03:37 Israeli police deploy horses and stun grenades to disperse Israelis blocking a main road during a protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government to overhaul the judicial system, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. © Oded Balilty, AP
Text by: NEWS WIRES|
Video by: Sami SOCKOL
Issued on: 01/03/2023
Weeks of anti-government protests in Israel turned violent on Wednesday for the first time as police fired stun grenades and a water cannon at demonstrators who blocked a Tel Aviv highway. The crackdown came shortly after Israel’s hard-line national security minister urged a tough response to what he said were “anarchists.”
The violence came as thousands across the country launched a “national disruption day” against the government’s plan to overhaul Israel’s judicial system.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s allies say the program is meant to reduce the influence of unelected judges. But critics, including influential business leaders and former military figures, say Netanyahu is pushing the country toward authoritarian rule and has a clear conflict of interest in targeting judges as he stands trial on corruption charges.
Since Netanyahu’s government took office two months ago, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest the changes, which they say endangers Israel’s fragile system of checks and balances. Wednesday, however, marked the first time police used force against the crowds.
Israel protests
The government is barreling ahead with the legal changes and a parliamentary committee is moving forward on a bill that would weaken the Supreme Court.
The crisis has sent shock waves through Israel and presented Netanyahu with a serious challenge. A wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence in the occupied West Bank has compounded his troubles.
The rival sides are digging in, deepening one of Israel’s worst domestic crises. Netanyahu and his government, made up of ultranationalists, have branded the protesters anarchists, while stopping short of condemning a West Bank settler mob that torched a Palestinian town earlier this week.
The legal overhaul has sparked an unprecedented uproar, with weeks of mass protests, criticism from legal experts and rare demonstrations by army reservists who have pledged to disobey orders under what they say will be a dictatorship after the overhaul passes. Business leaders, the country’s booming tech sector and leading economists have warned of economic turmoil under the judicial changes. Israel’s international allies have expressed concern.
In the first scenes of unrest since the protests began two months ago, police arrived on horseback in the center of the seaside metropolis of Tel Aviv, hurled stun grenades and used a water cannon against thousands of protesters who chanted “democracy” and “police state.” A video posted on social media showed a police officer pinning down a protester with his knee on the man’s neck and another showed a man who reportedly had his ear ripped off by a stun grenade.
Facing the police, protesters also chanted “where were you,” a reference to the absence of security forces during the settler attack on the Palestinian town of Hawara, which took hours to quell and which the military said it was not prepared for.
Click to play footage of Wednesday's protests
The crisis has sent shock waves through Israel and presented Netanyahu with a serious challenge. A wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence in the occupied West Bank has compounded his troubles.
The rival sides are digging in, deepening one of Israel’s worst domestic crises. Netanyahu and his government, made up of ultranationalists, have branded the protesters anarchists, while stopping short of condemning a West Bank settler mob that torched a Palestinian town earlier this week.
The legal overhaul has sparked an unprecedented uproar, with weeks of mass protests, criticism from legal experts and rare demonstrations by army reservists who have pledged to disobey orders under what they say will be a dictatorship after the overhaul passes. Business leaders, the country’s booming tech sector and leading economists have warned of economic turmoil under the judicial changes. Israel’s international allies have expressed concern.
In the first scenes of unrest since the protests began two months ago, police arrived on horseback in the center of the seaside metropolis of Tel Aviv, hurled stun grenades and used a water cannon against thousands of protesters who chanted “democracy” and “police state.” A video posted on social media showed a police officer pinning down a protester with his knee on the man’s neck and another showed a man who reportedly had his ear ripped off by a stun grenade.
Facing the police, protesters also chanted “where were you,” a reference to the absence of security forces during the settler attack on the Palestinian town of Hawara, which took hours to quell and which the military said it was not prepared for.
Click to play footage of Wednesday's protests
Police said protesters threw rocks and water bottles at the officers. Police said they arrested 39 protesters in Tel Aviv for disturbing the peace while 11 people were hospitalized with various injuries, according to Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. Earlier Wednesday, protesters blocked Tel Aviv’s main freeway and the highway connecting the city to Jerusalem, halting rush hour traffic for about an hour. At busy train stations in Tel Aviv, protesters prevented trains from departing by blocking their doors.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist accused of politicizing the police, has vowed to take a tough line. He called on police to prevent the road blockages, labeling the demonstrators “anarchists.”Netanyahu said Ben-Gvir had his full support. “We will not tolerate violence against police, blocking roads and blatant breaches of the country’s laws. The right to protest is not the right to anarchy, » he said.
Netanyahu also blamed opposition leader Yair Lapid for fomenting anarchy. Lapid called on police to show restraint and said Netanyahu’s government had lost control.
“The protesters are patriots,” Lapid tweeted. “They are fighting for the values of freedom, justice and democracy. The role of the police is to allow them to express their opinions and fight for the country they love.”
Thousands of protesters came out in locations across the country waving Israeli flags. Parents marched with their children, tech workers walked out of work to demonstrate and doctors in scrubs protested outside hospitals. The main rallies were expected later Wednesday outside the Knesset, or parliament, and near Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem.
“Every person here is trying to keep Israel a democracy and if the current government will get its way, then we are afraid we will no longer be a democracy or a free country,” said Arianna Shapira, a protester in Tel Aviv. “As a woman, as a mother, I’m very scared for my family and for my friends.”
Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the overhaul’s main architect, said Tuesday that the coalition aims to ram through some of the judicial overhaul bills into law in the coming month, before the parliament goes on recess for the Passover holiday on April 2.
The Knesset also is set to cast a preliminary vote Wednesday on a separate proposal to protect Netanyahu from being removed from his post, a move that comes following calls to the country’s attorney general to declare him “unfit for office.”
Netanyahu has been the center of a years-long political crisis in Israel, with former allies turning on him and refusing to sit with him in government because of his corruption charges. That political turmoil, with five elections in four years, culminated in Netanyahu returning to power late last year, with ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox parties as partners in the current far-right government.
Wielding immense political power, those allies secured top portfolios in Netanyahu’s government, among them Ben-Gvir, who before entering politics was arrested dozens of times and was once convicted of incitement to violence and support for a terror group. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a firebrand West Bank settler leader, has been given authority over parts of the territory.
They have promised to take a tough stance against Palestinians, which has ratcheted up tensions in recent weeks. Smotrich publicly called for a harsh response to the killing of two Israelis in the West Bank by a Palestinian gunman, saying Israel should “go crazy,” shortly before Sunday’s mob violence. While he later urged restraint, he also said Wednesday that Hawara, the Palestinian town that was attacked, should be “erased.”
In addition to the protests, Netanyahu’s government, Israel’s most right-wing ever, is beginning to show early cracks, just two months into its tenure.
The government says the legal changes are meant to correct an imbalance that has given the courts too much power and allowed them to meddle in the legislative process. They say the overhaul will streamline governance and say elections last year, which returned Netanyahu to power with a slim majority in parliament, gave them a mandate to make the changes.
Critics say the overhaul will upend Israel’s system of checks and balances, granting the prime minister and the government unrestrained power and push the country toward authoritarianism.
(AP)
Israel police crack down on legal reform protest
Issued on: 01/03/2023 -
Tel Aviv (AFP) – Israeli police clashed Wednesday with protesters rallying against the government's judicial reform programme which critics say threatens democracy, as lawmakers held a preliminary vote on the latest controversial bill.
Demonstrators in Tel Aviv blocked some streets, and police employed stun grenades, water cannon and officers on horseback in a rare use of force in the coastal city, AFP journalists said.
Some 39 people were arrested for "allegedly rioting and not obeying instructions by police officials", police said in a statement.
Eleven wounded protesters arrived at Tel Aviv's Ichilov hospital, a spokesman for the facility told AFP.
"I am here for democracy, for human rights, for justice," demonstrator Johann Kanal, 39, told AFP in Tel Aviv.
Another protester, 51-year-old lawyer Dana Niron, said: "We are blocking all the intersections, we're stopping the entire traffic in the entire country in hope that the current government will understand that we are dead serious and that we will do everything in our power to change the current path that they are taking."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit back in a televised statement.
"The right to demonstrate is not the right to block the country," he said, accusing demonstrators of crossing "a red line".
"A sovereign country cannot tolerate anarchy," added Netanyahu, who returned to power late last year at the head of a coalition with ultra-Orthodox Jewish and extreme-right allies.
Issued on: 01/03/2023 -
Tel Aviv (AFP) – Israeli police clashed Wednesday with protesters rallying against the government's judicial reform programme which critics say threatens democracy, as lawmakers held a preliminary vote on the latest controversial bill.
Demonstrators in Tel Aviv blocked some streets, and police employed stun grenades, water cannon and officers on horseback in a rare use of force in the coastal city, AFP journalists said.
Some 39 people were arrested for "allegedly rioting and not obeying instructions by police officials", police said in a statement.
Eleven wounded protesters arrived at Tel Aviv's Ichilov hospital, a spokesman for the facility told AFP.
"I am here for democracy, for human rights, for justice," demonstrator Johann Kanal, 39, told AFP in Tel Aviv.
Another protester, 51-year-old lawyer Dana Niron, said: "We are blocking all the intersections, we're stopping the entire traffic in the entire country in hope that the current government will understand that we are dead serious and that we will do everything in our power to change the current path that they are taking."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit back in a televised statement.
"The right to demonstrate is not the right to block the country," he said, accusing demonstrators of crossing "a red line".
"A sovereign country cannot tolerate anarchy," added Netanyahu, who returned to power late last year at the head of a coalition with ultra-Orthodox Jewish and extreme-right allies.
Security forces used stun grenades to disperse protesters in Tel Aviv © Jack GUEZ / AFP
The premier earlier stressed his support for the police, who "are acting against lawbreakers who are disrupting Israeli citizens' daily lives".
The rally in Tel Aviv came as lawmakers in Jerusalem passed in preliminary reading a bill limiting the chances of a prime minister being impeached.
Opponents say the measure is aimed at protecting Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges he denies.
MPs voted 62 to 20 in favour of the legislation, which proposes a three-quarter parliamentary majority to impeach a premier due to physical or mental incapacity.
Following the initial vote, the bill will pass to a parliamentary committee to consider whether it should be scrapped or returned to the chamber to continue the legislative process.
The premier earlier stressed his support for the police, who "are acting against lawbreakers who are disrupting Israeli citizens' daily lives".
The rally in Tel Aviv came as lawmakers in Jerusalem passed in preliminary reading a bill limiting the chances of a prime minister being impeached.
Opponents say the measure is aimed at protecting Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges he denies.
MPs voted 62 to 20 in favour of the legislation, which proposes a three-quarter parliamentary majority to impeach a premier due to physical or mental incapacity.
Following the initial vote, the bill will pass to a parliamentary committee to consider whether it should be scrapped or returned to the chamber to continue the legislative process.
Police employed stun grenades, water cannon and officers on horseback in a rare use of force in Tel Aviv © JACK GUEZ / AFP
The broader judicial reform, announced in January, includes measures that critics argue are intended to hand politicians more power at the expense of the judiciary.
Netanyahu and his justice minister, Yariv Levin, argue the change is necessary to reset the balance between elected officials and the Supreme Court which they view as politicised.
Lawmakers also passed in preliminary reading a bill to impose the death penalty on "terrorists", with 55 MPs in favour and nine against.
Extreme-right politicians have repeatedly attempted to pass such legislation in the 120-seat chamber, but have failed to garner enough support.
Israel abolished the use of capital punishment for murder in civil courts in 1954, though it can still in theory be applied for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, treason and crimes against the Jewish people.
© 2023 AFP
The broader judicial reform, announced in January, includes measures that critics argue are intended to hand politicians more power at the expense of the judiciary.
Netanyahu and his justice minister, Yariv Levin, argue the change is necessary to reset the balance between elected officials and the Supreme Court which they view as politicised.
Lawmakers also passed in preliminary reading a bill to impose the death penalty on "terrorists", with 55 MPs in favour and nine against.
Extreme-right politicians have repeatedly attempted to pass such legislation in the 120-seat chamber, but have failed to garner enough support.
Israel abolished the use of capital punishment for murder in civil courts in 1954, though it can still in theory be applied for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, treason and crimes against the Jewish people.
© 2023 AFP
‘Brink of internal disintegration’: Twin crises split Israeli society
ByGwen Ackerman and Ethan Bronner
March 2, 2023 — 7.13am
Israel was rocked by further protests against the government’s planned judicial overhaul in the wake of increased violence in the West Bank, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed determined to hold his ground.
Demonstrators against the state’s bid to restrict the authority of the Supreme Court blocked main roadways on Wednesday (Tel Aviv time), including the key Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway. Thirty-nine were arrested in the latest skirmish in a controversy that’s caused a deep social rift and sparked shekel volatility and unnerved markets and investors.
Israeli police deploy horses and stun grenades to disperse Israelis blocking a main road to protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government to overhaul the judicial system, in Tel Aviv.
Israeli police deploy a water cannon to disperse Israelis blocking a main road to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul the nation’s judicial system.CREDIT:AP
The government and its supporters say they are reining in an activist high court and returning power to the voters. The rift over this issue is genuine but also a proxy for the socio-economic divide between traditional, more religious Jews and secular professionals.
“Israel is on the brink of internal disintegration and severe social rift,” Yuval Diskin, former head of Israel’s domestic security agency, the Shin Bet, said at a demonstration. “It came much faster than I expected. We are liable to be on the brink of civil war, and this is because of our miserable government.”
Protesters and opposition lawmakers criticised the use of stun grenades, water cannons and horses to push back demonstrators. Eleven were wounded. Netanyahu said police should use whatever means necessary to stop demonstrators from blocking highways and what he said were attacks against officers.
In an unplanned televised address on Wednesday evening, Netanyahu compared some of the demonstrations to what had happened in the West Bank.
A Palestinian carries stones during clashes with Israeli forces near the West Bank city of Jericho.CREDIT:AP
“We won’t accept law breaking and violence, not in Huwara, not in Tel Aviv, not anywhere,” he said, grim-faced from the podium. “I once again call for calm, I call for an end to the violence and I believe and hope that we will soon find a way toward dialogue and agreements.”
In the Knesset, the plenum approved in a preliminary vote a bill that will protect Netanyahu, on trial for bribery and breach of trust, from a forced leave of absence, preventing the High Court from recusing him.
A second bill calling for the death sentence for Palestinians carrying out attacks against Israel also passed a preliminary vote. Both must be approved three more times before coming law.
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Violence worsening
The rage in the streets is led by secular liberals who fear the government is pulling the nation toward religious nationalist policies.
Every Saturday night for the last eight weeks, at least 100,000 have gathered in Tel Aviv. On Wednesday, an annual conference of the Institute for National Security Studies, an establishment foreign-policy think tank, was blocked by protesters waving flags and shouting slogans over the judicial changes.
In a meeting in Aqaba on Monday, Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed to work to stop the clashes, though this was undermined the same day when a young Israeli-American man was shot and killed in the West Bank.
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‘Patience is running out’: Palestinians killed, scores hurt in Israel West Bank raid
There are fears the violence could worsen, as the Islamic holiday of Ramadan and Jewish celebration of Passover loom in early April.
Sixty-two Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops since the beginning of the year, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, alongside 14 Israelis — both the highest number in years.
“The country is in a dark age,” opposition lawmaker Efrat Rayten Marom said at the law committee meeting.
ByGwen Ackerman and Ethan Bronner
March 2, 2023 — 7.13am
Israel was rocked by further protests against the government’s planned judicial overhaul in the wake of increased violence in the West Bank, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed determined to hold his ground.
Demonstrators against the state’s bid to restrict the authority of the Supreme Court blocked main roadways on Wednesday (Tel Aviv time), including the key Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway. Thirty-nine were arrested in the latest skirmish in a controversy that’s caused a deep social rift and sparked shekel volatility and unnerved markets and investors.
Israeli police deploy horses and stun grenades to disperse Israelis blocking a main road to protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government to overhaul the judicial system, in Tel Aviv.
CREDIT:AP
Unrest in Palestinian villages has led to fights between soldiers and Jewish settlers in recent days, intensifying the worst hostilities in years. Eight Israelis were arrested on suspicion of their involvement in the violence and an assault in the village of Huwara.
Police said they expected to detain more.
The twin battles have increased concerns about an escalating crisis in Israel since Netanyahu returned to power as head of a far-right coalition in December.
Critics say plans for the judiciary will hand too much power to authorities, and a committee debate about the reforms in the Knesset on Wednesday turned raucous.
Unrest in Palestinian villages has led to fights between soldiers and Jewish settlers in recent days, intensifying the worst hostilities in years. Eight Israelis were arrested on suspicion of their involvement in the violence and an assault in the village of Huwara.
Police said they expected to detain more.
The twin battles have increased concerns about an escalating crisis in Israel since Netanyahu returned to power as head of a far-right coalition in December.
Critics say plans for the judiciary will hand too much power to authorities, and a committee debate about the reforms in the Knesset on Wednesday turned raucous.
Israeli police deploy a water cannon to disperse Israelis blocking a main road to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul the nation’s judicial system.CREDIT:AP
The government and its supporters say they are reining in an activist high court and returning power to the voters. The rift over this issue is genuine but also a proxy for the socio-economic divide between traditional, more religious Jews and secular professionals.
“Israel is on the brink of internal disintegration and severe social rift,” Yuval Diskin, former head of Israel’s domestic security agency, the Shin Bet, said at a demonstration. “It came much faster than I expected. We are liable to be on the brink of civil war, and this is because of our miserable government.”
Protesters and opposition lawmakers criticised the use of stun grenades, water cannons and horses to push back demonstrators. Eleven were wounded. Netanyahu said police should use whatever means necessary to stop demonstrators from blocking highways and what he said were attacks against officers.
In an unplanned televised address on Wednesday evening, Netanyahu compared some of the demonstrations to what had happened in the West Bank.
A Palestinian carries stones during clashes with Israeli forces near the West Bank city of Jericho.CREDIT:AP
“We won’t accept law breaking and violence, not in Huwara, not in Tel Aviv, not anywhere,” he said, grim-faced from the podium. “I once again call for calm, I call for an end to the violence and I believe and hope that we will soon find a way toward dialogue and agreements.”
In the Knesset, the plenum approved in a preliminary vote a bill that will protect Netanyahu, on trial for bribery and breach of trust, from a forced leave of absence, preventing the High Court from recusing him.
A second bill calling for the death sentence for Palestinians carrying out attacks against Israel also passed a preliminary vote. Both must be approved three more times before coming law.
RELATED ARTICLE
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
‘Without mercy’: Israeli settlers rampage after Palestinian gunman kills two
Violence worsening
The rage in the streets is led by secular liberals who fear the government is pulling the nation toward religious nationalist policies.
Every Saturday night for the last eight weeks, at least 100,000 have gathered in Tel Aviv. On Wednesday, an annual conference of the Institute for National Security Studies, an establishment foreign-policy think tank, was blocked by protesters waving flags and shouting slogans over the judicial changes.
In a meeting in Aqaba on Monday, Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed to work to stop the clashes, though this was undermined the same day when a young Israeli-American man was shot and killed in the West Bank.
RELATED ARTICLE
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
‘Patience is running out’: Palestinians killed, scores hurt in Israel West Bank raid
There are fears the violence could worsen, as the Islamic holiday of Ramadan and Jewish celebration of Passover loom in early April.
Sixty-two Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops since the beginning of the year, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, alongside 14 Israelis — both the highest number in years.
“The country is in a dark age,” opposition lawmaker Efrat Rayten Marom said at the law committee meeting.
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