Numerous Israelis have flocked to the streets to voice their opposition to the new administration of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s intentions, which they claim endanger democracy and freedoms.
After the inauguration of the most right-wing and conservatively religious government in the nation’s 74-year history, demonstrators gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday. In addition to diminishing the judiciary’s authority, it wants to increase unauthorised settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Members of Israel’s Knesset who identify as left-wing and Palestinian spearheaded the demonstration.
Demonstrators held up placards that said, “Democracy in danger” and “Together against fascism and apartheid.”
“Housing, Livelihood, Hope” was written on another banner. Rainbow flags were carried by some protesters.
They criticised Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who revealed the government’s long-promised revamp of the legal system on Wednesday to undermine the country’s Supreme Court.
The plan, according to critics, will upend Israel’s system of checks and balances and damage its democratic institutions by granting the next ruling coalition full authority, upending Israel’s legal system and undermining its institutions of democracy.
Danny Simon, 77, a demonstrator from Yavne, south of Tel Aviv, stated, “We are really afraid that our country is going to lose the democracy and we are going to a dictatorship just for reasons of one person who wants to get rid of his law trial.”
He was referring to Netanyahu, who was charged with corruption in 2021 but the prime leader has consistently refuted the claims.
After winning the election on November 1, Netanyahu assumed office at the end of last month as the leader of a coalition with extreme-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, some of whose representatives now hold important ministry positions.
A lawmaker who admitted to tax evasion late last year is among them, as well as several far-right figures, including one who once displayed a portrait of a man who murdered numerous Palestinian worshippers in his home.
Netanyahu, 73, has previously held the position of prime minister twice, from 2009 to 2021, making him the longest-serving leader in Israeli history. He is currently defending corruption charges in court.
