Israelis hold mass protests for 11th week against Netanyahu’s judicial reforms

News Desk :
Israelis gathered in towns and cities nationwide on Sunday for an 11th straight week of protests against the judicial reform plans of the hard-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The protesters fear that the proposed reforms, which are already moving through parliament and would increase the power of politicians over the courts, are a threat to Israeli democracy.
In Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff square, thousands of demonstrators waved the blue and white Israeli flag of Israel, as well as the rainbow flag of the LGBTQ community, reports AFP.
The demonstrators blocked roads as they set off on a march through the heart of the city. “Saving Democracy!” said one placard held aloft by the crowd.
An AFP photographer saw a group of people at a counter-protest in central Tel Aviv in support of the government, with some raising banners that read: “traitor leftists”.
Naama Mazor, 64, a retiree from the city of Herzliya who joined the main rally in Tel Aviv, said she was “worried not about myself, but for my daughters and grandchildren”.
“We want to keep Israel democratic and liberal, Jewish of course, but liberal. We are very concerned it is going to become a dictatorship,” she told AFP.
“There isn’t a half-democracy. We’re either a democracy or a dictatorship. There is nothing in between”.
Sagiv Golan, 46, from Tel Aviv, said the government was “trying to destroy civil rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights and every thing that democracy stands for. We want to
show the voice of democracy”. Addressing protestors in the city of Ashdod, opposition leader Yair Lapid blasted the government for rejecting a proposed compromise.
He said coalition members “don’t want negotiations. They want to run forward with the legislation and turn Israel into an undemocratic state”.