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Demonstrations were held Saturday evening against the government's judicial reform legislation despite the legislation freeze that was announced on Monday. According to the protest organizers, demonstrations took place in 150 locations across the country, with the central one being in central Tel Aviv as in past weeks. Prior to the demonstration in Tel Aviv, protesters marched down Rothschild Boulevard to Kaplan Street, where Natan Netanyahu, the Prime Minister's cousin, whose mother served as a Supreme Court justice, spoke. In Jerusalem, the author David Grossman and Ori Banki, the father of Shira Banki, who was murdered at the city's LGBT...

Israel is a sovereign country that does not make decisions based on pressures from abroad, says PM Netanyahu after US President Biden warned Tel Aviv "cannot continue" pressing for deeply controversial reforms. Israel is a sovereign nation that does not make decisions based on pressures from abroad, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said in response to comments by US President Joe Biden. Biden said on Tuesday he hoped Netanyahu would abandon judicial changes that had sparked protests in Israel and a political crisis for its government. "Israel is a sovereign country which makes its decisions by the will of its...

Bending to a wave of mass protests, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed his contentious judicial overhaul plan Monday and said he wanted 'to avoid civil war' by making time to seek a compromise with political opponents. The announcement appeared to calm some of the tensions that have fueled three tumultuous months of unrest. But it failed to address the underlying issues that have polarized the nation, and the antigovernmental protest movement vowed to intensify its efforts. In his prime-time address, Netanyahu, who had previously rejected calls to delay the legislation, took a more conciliatory tone than in recent speeches....

JNS) After months of increasingly strident mass protests against his government’s plans to reform Israel’s out-of-control and highly partisan judicial system, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have given in to the pressure. He said he was going to be “delaying judicial reform to give real dialogue a chance.” But it’s highly doubtful that this will merely be a timeout that will help his supporters regroup and enable opponents to calm down and accept a compromise on the issue. On the contrary, Netanyahu is waving the white flag on judicial reform—and everyone knows it. And since the ultimate goal of...

MK Avi Maoz, head of the Noam party, has expressed his staunch opposition to any plan to halt the judicial reform program. In a Knesset speech on Monday morning, he described how backing down would hand victory to the elites and turn voting into an utterly futile exercise. "What we are about to see here is the completion of the coup d'etat whose aim is to turn democratic rule in the State Of Israel, based on government by elected officials into a dictatorship of the elites, which in a cynical use of words designed to mislead and conceal calls what...

As PM announces delay, protesters demand judicial reform move forward, rail against "elites", claim election was "stolen" from them Tens of thousands of government supporters demonstrated in Jerusalem on Monday in favor of its judicial overhaul and against its planned halt, shortly before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced it was being put on hold. The rally was the largest event of its kind since the government launched its far-reaching legislative plan in January. The past months have seen massive anti-overhaul protests, but supporters rallies were few and far between until it became clear Monday that the plan was being delayed....

After the mass demonstrations throughout the country during the night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will deliver a speech to the nation this morning...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered an address to the nation this evening (Thursday) on the government's planned judicial reforms. The address follows Netanyahu's meeting with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who called for the judicial reform bills to be frozen until the next Knesset session. "Citizens of Israel, a few months ago, as soon as the election results were announced, I said, 'I intend to be prime minister of all citizens of Israel," I meant it then and I mean it today." Netanyahu said at the beginning of his speech. "We have one country and we must do everything to protect...

Multiple new letters Wednesday by soldiers from air force, armored corps, infantry and more warn government of consequences of judicial overhaul Reports proliferated Wednesday of reservist soldiers from multiple units throughout the military declaring they would not show up for duty, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government pushes forward with its plan to overhaul the judiciary. Meanwhile, a report in Haaretz said that the IDF has identified a significant drop in the number of ground troops reporting for reserve duty. In the elite 551st Paratroopers Brigade, only 57 percent of reservists reported for duty this week--down significantly from the usual...

President reiterates call for coalition to secure 'broadest possible' support for foundational changes to High Court avoids extending White House invitation long sought by PM US President Joe Biden raised his concerns with the judicial overhaul being advanced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government during a "candid and constructive" phone call with the premier on Sunday, according to a senior administration official. Biden reiterated previously voiced US calls for the Netanyahu government to secure "as broad a consensus as possible" for the fundamental changes aimed at curbing the High Court of Justice's powers, the administration official said, and also expressed...

Dozens of demonstrators protested in Kfar Uria, west of Jersualem, Saturday morning against National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who spent the weekend in the village. The protesters made noise using megaphones and airhorns near the synagogue where the minister was praying. Residents were angered by the noise during the services and requested that the protesters leave the premises. A confrontation developed at the scene, including throwing firecrackers, stones, and smoke grenades at the protesters. Two protesters were arrested, and a counter-protester was arrested on suspicion he threw stones. In video footage, one of the protesters, Yishai Hadas from the "Crime...

In a brief statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party denies reports that have apparently said the government plans to freeze the judicial overhaul legislation... Police say officers have detained a 24-year old man for driving a motorcycle into a group of protesters in the Tel Aviv suburb of Givatayim... Supporter of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party hurl eggs at demonstrators... The Israel Defense Forces says a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip landed in an open field near the southern town of Nahal Oz... Police are using water cannons against demonstrators blocking the Route 65 highway at Karkur...

Police twice clear demonstrators from Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv; after coalition rejects Herzog proposal, Lapid blames government for violence after protesters pepper-sprayed. Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets across Israel as part of a day of "escalating resistance to dictatorship" blocking roads and protesting the government's continued advance of controversial legislation to radically overhaul the judiciary and restrict the powers of the High Court of Justice. Many of the protesters said they were inspired to come out and demonstrate after the government showed no signs of slowing down its legislative efforts and rejected an alternate proposal...

MK Avigdor Liberman, head of the right-wing secularist Yisrael Beytenu party, expresses concern that religion is gaining too much sway in Israel during the joint press conference with other opposition chiefs. "If we do not separate religion and state, we will not have a state", says the longtime critic of the ultra-Orthodox's influence on the state. "Today it is clear that the main engine for all this crazy legislation, the most rigid, the most extreme element that is not ready for any compromise are the Shas and United Torah Judaism parties," Liberman adds, singling out the Knesset's two ultra-Orthodox factions....

Leading US attorney Prof. Alan Dershowitz, who has voiced his opposition to Israel's judicial reform plan in the past, now admits that despite his opposition, the legislation would not make Israel any less democratic. During a Zoom debate with legal scholar Eugene Kontorovich organized by J-AIR Jewish radio on the subject of the reforms, Dershowitz insisted that the majority of opposition to the reform is due to the fact that a right-wing government is proposing it. "If exactly the same proposals were being made by a centrist government, or left-wing government, no one would notice," he claimed. "There would be...

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant Thursday afternoon. During their meeting Secretary Austin delivered a message from the Biden Administration on controversy surrounding the issue of judicial reform in Israel... He also noted that US President Joe Biden expects compromises between the coalition on the judicial reform issue....

PM says judicial reforms proposed under Herzog's compromise plan merely 'perpetuate' the situation which necessitated reforms to begin with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday night rejected President Issac Herzog's proposed judicial reform compromise plan, claiming that the proposal does not solve the issues that necessitated a reform of the judicial system in the first place. "I think that any attempt to reach an agreement and to negotiate is certainly appropriate, and therefore the representatives of the coalition went and talked with the president time and time again, while the representatives of the opposition are still not ready for negotiation,"...

A protest and counter-protest held in Bnai Brak on Tuesday evening turned ugly after one person allegedly pepper spray at a police officer, and police used force in an attempt to disperse haredi protesters from the scene. On Monday, organizers of the anti-government protests against judicial reform announced that they would be demonstration outside the home of MK Moshe Gafni, a member of the United Torah Judaism party (UTJ). "The demonstration will be the opening salvo in a broad process against the involvement of haredi Knesset members in advancing laws to create a coup d'état, and we will first be...

Richard Quest, senior international business correspondent at CNN, warned on Monday of the economic consequences of the judicial reform being promoted by the Israeli government. Speaking to Channel 12 News, Quest said, “Let’s be quite clear about this: If these measures go forward as planned, there will be an effect. It will be felt. You cannot tinker around, undermine the foundations of a country’s unwritten constitution, based on practice and history, and not expect to have a result. It’s as simple as that.” He said that the effect will not be immediate but rather take place over time. “Over the...

There is no risk to the Israeli economy. Experts say that. It's just that political oppononest (in a concensus) are saying "the sky is falling." This Government was clearly elected and it wants and can perform judicial reform... I don't want to 'rain on your parade...' he tells the lefty journalist. "But at the moment there is no danger". ___ Ariel Iluz: From an interview with CNN's senior commentator Richard Quest on the subject of economic reform and future dangers. May 13, 2023https://twitter.com/Ariel_iluz/status/1635364262070845441