Israel has seen an unprecedented number of political protests and strikes against the government of Benjamin Netanyahu for the last month and a half. On February 13, close to 10 lakh people staged a nation-wide strike and around one lakh gathered in front of the parliament in Jerusalem.
What has mobilised one of the strongest public protests in decades is the Netanyahu government’s controversial plan for judicial reforms: changing the composition of the committee that appoints judges to give a decisive edge to the parliamentarians in selecting judges, limiting judicial overview of the legislature and ending the judicial review system.
“This overhaul of the judicial system may grant the government total control over the appointment of judges, including Supreme Court judges, and it can also severely limit the High Court of Justice’s ability to strike down legislation as well as allow the parliament to re-legislate laws with a simple majority,” said The Times of…
