'A coup by the executive' - protester, after Netanyahu delays plans for judicial overhaul
Record ID:
1717343
'A coup by the executive' - protester, after Netanyahu delays plans for judicial overhaul
- Title: 'A coup by the executive' - protester, after Netanyahu delays plans for judicial overhaul
- Date: 27th March 2023
- Summary: JERUSALEM (MARCH 27,2023) (REUTERS) PROTESTER WITH A POSTER CARRYING A PICTURE OF FEMALE MODEL WITH FACE OF BENJAMIN NETANYAHU AND A LINE (in English) READING: 'I NEVER MEANT TO START A WAR' PROTESTERS WAVING ISRAELI FLAGS PROTESTERS WATCHING BENJAMIN NETANYAHU'S SPEECH ON MOBILE PHONE (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROTESTER, NATANEL FTWSKI, 30, SAYING: "We'll see what happens next. Me, personally, I don't think he can be trusted. We'll have to see, let time pass and see what happens." (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROTESTER, EITAN KAHANA, 27, SAYING: "I will continue protesting until these reforms are completely dropped, because this isn't a set for reforms, this is a coup by the executive. It's executive aggrandizement, they are taking their power that they got democratically and they are ruining our democratic systems forever, and I will not let this pass, ever. I will do everything in my power to protest it." WOMAN CARRYING BANNER READING (English) 'OUR WANT TO BE DICTATOR IS THE REAL ANARCHIST!' TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (MARCH 27,2023) (REUTERS) ISRAELI SECURITY FORCES ON HORSES AS PROTESTERS CHANT IN (Hebrew): 'SHAME! SHAME...' FORCES PUSHING A PROTESTER, DETAINING HIM PROTESTER AGAINST JUDICIAL REFORM CHANTING SLOGAN ON MEGAPHONE, OTHERS WAVE FLAGS, CHAT SLOGANS DEMONSTRATORS SUPPORTING REFORM PROTESTING, ISRAELI FORCES, VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS AGAINST THE REFORM CHANTING SLOGANS ON OTHER SIDE
- Embargoed: 10th April 2023 20:13
- Keywords: Gantz Israel Netanyahu court judiciary protests strike
- Location: JERUSALEM/ TEL AVIV, ISRAEL
- City: JERUSALEM/ TEL AVIV, ISRAEL
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Middle East,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA005067127032023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Israelis expressed mixed feelings on Monday (March 27) after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed a decision on bitterly contested plans for a judicial overhaul amid fears that Israel's worst national crisis in years could fracture his coalition or escalate into violence.
It was unclear how far the bill's delay to next month's new parliamentary session, after mass protests and growing labour strikes, would satisfy either side or cool a crisis.
"This isn't a set for reforms, this is a coup by the executive," said Eitan Kahana, 27, an opponent of the new law who vowed to "continue protesting until these reforms are completely dropped".
But government supporter, Avia Itzhaky, 23, wants the reforms to go ahead. "They started a process and they need to complete it," he said.
Netanyahu's hard-right coalition partner, security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was seen shaking hands with protestors in Jerusalem, said he had agreed to the delay in return for a deal that he could form a National Guard under his ministry - a move opponents fiercely criticise as giving him his own militia.
The government's plan to tighten parliament's control over judicial processes has triggered some of the biggest mass protests in Israeli history, with its opponents calling the move a threat to democracy.
Netanyahu's decision to put off the legislation also followed opposition from the Histadrut labour union, which grounded flights at Ben Gurion airport with seaports, banks, hospitals and medical services also set to stop work.
The union said it had called off the strikes after Netanyahu announced the delay.
Opposition leader Benny Gantz said the decision was "better late than never" but that he would not compromise on the "basics of democracy" in any dialogue on the new law.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who had staged a rare intervention into politics earlier on Monday to plead with Netanyahu to halt his judicial overhaul for the sake of national unity, said stopping it was "the right thing to do".
The crisis, among the worst in Israeli domestic political history, has come amid escalating violence in the West Bank, where more than 250 Palestinian gunmen and civilians, and more than 40 Israelis have been killed in the past year.
(Production: Eli Berlzon, Illan Rosenberg, Rami Amichay, Dedi Hayun, Roleen Tafakji) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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