Right Wing Activists Calling for Dialogue on Judicial Reform Rally in Jerusalem; Ask that Rift in Country be Healed

Edited by: Fern Sidman

Activists calling themselves “the responsible right” gathered in Jerusalem’s Liberty Bell Park on Saturday evening to call for dialogue regarding the government’s judicial reform bill, according to a report on the Israel National News web site.

The demonstration was attended by former Communications Minister Dr. Yoaz Hendel, who initiated the event together with former Shin-Bet Chief Yoram Cohen, Pinchas Wallerstein, one of the leaders of the Gush Emunim movement, Rabbi Yermi Stavitzki, Rabbi Ohad Tehar-Lev, journalist Emily Amrousi, former MK Nir Orbach, and other rabbis and public figures, the report indicated.

INN reported that the organizers said the event was “An emergency demonstration to heal the rift in the nation, to call for dialogue, and to accept the president’s plan – to prevent a civil war.”

“The purpose of this demonstration is to stop the careening train,” Hendel told Israel National News. “All of us, on the right and the left, feel the danger of things falling apart, and as someone who knows the Jewish people’s history, I know how these feelings can turn into very bad results in the state of Israel. Therefore right-wingers who believe in the unity of the nation and the land, who understand that fixing the judicial system is important, but they need to be made through agreements according to the President’s plan. We need to talk with each other. We are one nation, and no one has the mandate to drag us into civil war.”

Former Shin-Bet Chief Yoram Cohen spoke out at the demonstration against an expedited reform. He said, “The goal of an expedited reform is not to improve the justice system but to neutralize it. The reform will turn Israel from a democratic state to one that is not so, “ INN reported.

According to a report on the Vois Es Nais web site, Cohen also told the demonstrators that “the reform will change the face of the country.”

Cohen, a religious Jew and right-winger, added, “The court and legal advisors are our safety belt. Sometimes it is uncomfortable, sometimes it presses, but it saves lives. The division created among the nation amid the discourse on the reform keeps me awake at night. Passing the reform in its current form, by force and without dialogue with all sections of society, will lead to disaster,” Cohen warned, as was reported by VIN.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Israelis marched Saturday in several cities against judicial overhaul plans proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, the AP reported.

The report indicated that the demonstration took place in the central city of Tel Aviv, part of a weekly protest campaign that has kicked off since Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced the proposed changes in early January.

VIN reported that protesters in Tel Aviv carried a massive copy of Israel’s Declaration of Independence as they marched against the reforms. [It should be noted that the declaration of independence mentions 11 times that the state of Israel will be a Jewish state but does not state once that it will be a democratic state.]

Another protester dressed up as Prime Minister Netanyahu in handcuffs, a reference to his numerous legal issues, VIN reported.

In Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa, dozens of women are seen dressed up as handmaids from Margaret Atwood’s book “The Handmaid’s Tale” about a fictional future society that oppresses women and forces them to be handmaids of males, as was reported by VIN. The women fear that the judicial reforms could roll back feminist rights in Israel with the courts unable to protect those rights effectively.

Netanyahu and his supporters, members of the most religious, right-wing government in the country’s history, say the changes are needed to rein in a judiciary that wields too much power,  the AP reported.

But critics, who include large sectors of Israeli society, say the overhauls would weaken Israel’s Supreme Court and damage the country’s fragile system of democratic checks and balances. The AP also reported that  they have said that Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges, is motivated by a personal grudge against the legal system and has a deep conflict of interest. Netanyahu has said he is a victim of a witch hunt.

In Tel Aviv, protesters raised large Israeli flags and held banners reading “Bibi (Netanyahu) everything has its end, as was reported by the AP. ” Other posters read “Freedom, Justice, Peace” and “Rotten Banana Republic.”

“This legislation is unacceptable, said Ret. Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, former chief of staff of Israel’s military, according to the AP report. “And we will do our best in order to prevent it from happening.”

VIN also reported that US ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides, said that the Biden administration has advised Netanyahu to “pump the brakes” regarding the judicial reforms, Hebrew media reported.

“That’s what we’re doing now. We’re telling the prime minister, as I tell my kids. Pump the brakes. Slow down, try to get a consensus, and bring the parties together,” Nides said, according to the VIN report.

Nides made these statements on The Axe Files podcast in a conversation with former senior Obama advisor David Axelrod, VIN reported.  He also said that “it’s very complicated, they’re trying to do things way too fast,” although he admitted that the US cannot tell Israel how to pick its supreme court.

On Sunday, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog urged Netanyahu to seek a compromise with his political opponents and delay the contentious judiciary overhaul plans, but on Monday the government formally launched the plans at the Knesset as tens of thousands protested outside the building, the AP reported.