TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) – The Israeli government on Monday pushed ahead with a controversial plan to overhaul the country’s legal system, despite an unprecedented uproar that included mass protests, warnings from military and business leaders and calls for restraint by the United States.
Thousands of protesters rallied outside Parliament, or the Knesset, for the second straight week to demonstrate against the plan as lawmakers prepared for a first vote.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies, a conglomeration of ultra-religious and ultra-nationalist lawmakers, say the plan seeks to fix a system that has given the government’s courts and legal advisers too much say in drafting laws and decisions. Critics say it will turn the country’s system of checks and balances on its head and concentrate power in the hands of the prime minister. They also say Netanyahu, who is on trial over a series of corruption charges, has a conflict of interest.
The standoff has plunged Israel into one of its greatest domestic crises, deepening the rift between Israelis over the character of their state and the values they believe should guide it.
Monday’s vote on part of the bill is just the first of three readings required for parliamentary approval. Although this process is expected to take months, the vote is a sign of the coalition’s determination to move forward and is viewed by many as an act of insincerity.
Israel’s flagship has called on the government to freeze legislation and seek a compromise with the opposition. Executives in the booming tech sector have warned that a weakening of the judiciary could drive away investors. Tens of thousands of Israelis protest in Tel Aviv and other cities every week.
Last week around 100,000 people demonstrated in front of the Knesset when a committee initially approved the plan. It was the largest protest in the city in years.
Thousands gathered in front of the Knesset on Monday, waving Israeli flags and holding up signs that read “Save Democracy!”
Earlier in the day, protesters launched a sit-in at the entrance to the homes of some coalition MPs, briefly halting traffic on Tel Aviv’s main street. Hundreds waved Israeli flags in Tel Aviv and also in the northern city of Haifa, holding signs that read “resistance is mandatory”.
“We are here to demonstrate for democracy. Without democracy there is no State of Israel. And we will fight to the end,” said Marcos Fainstein, a protester in Tel Aviv.
The overhaul has prompted otherwise stoic former security chiefs to speak out, even warning of civil war. In a sign of rising emotions, a group of army veterans in the 1960s and 1970s stole a decommissioned tank from a war memorial and hung Israel’s Declaration of Independence on it before being stopped by police.
The plan has even drawn rare warnings from the US, Israel’s key international ally.
US Ambassador Tom Nides said in a podcast over the weekend that Israel should “slow on the brakes” on legislation and seek consensus on reforms that would protect Israel’s democratic institutions.
His comments sparked angry reactions from Netanyahu’s allies and urged Nides to stay out of Israel’s internal affairs.
Speaking to his cabinet on Sunday, Netanyahu dismissed suggestions that Israel’s democracy was in jeopardy. “Israel has been and remains a strong and vibrant democracy,” he said.
While Israel has long boasted of its democratic credibility, critics say that claim is marred by its occupation of the West Bank country and the treatment of its own Palestinian minority.
Israel’s Palestinian citizens – a minority who may have the most to lose from the legal overhaul – have largely suspended the protests, in part because of the discrimination they suffer at home and because of Israel’s 55-year military occupation of their Palestinian brethren in the west Bank. Jewish settlers in the West Bank can vote in Israeli elections and are generally protected by Israeli law, while Palestinians in the same area are subject to military rule and cannot vote.
Monday’s parliamentary votes aim to give the government more power over who becomes judges. Today, a selection committee is made up of politicians, judges and lawyers – a system that proponents say promotes consensus.
The new system would give coalition lawmakers control of appointments. Critics fear judges are appointed based on their loyalty to the government or the prime minister.
“This is dramatic,” said Yaniv Roznai, co-director of the Rubinstein Center for Constitutional Challenges at Reichman University, north of Tel Aviv. “If you take control of the court, it’s all over. You can make any change you want.”
A second amendment would prevent the Supreme Court from repealing so-called “fundamental laws,” legal texts that stand for a constitution that Israel does not have. Critics say lawmakers will be able to designate any law as a constitution and remove judicial oversight over controversial laws.
Also planned are proposals that would give Parliament the power to overturn Supreme Court rulings and scrutinize the appointment of government legal advisers. Advisors are currently professional civil servants, and critics say the new system would politicize ministries.
Critics also fear the overhaul will give Netanyahu a way out of his legal woes. Netanyahu denies wrongdoing and says he is the victim of a biased justice system in a witch hunt against him.
Israel’s Attorney General has barred Netanyahu from any involvement in the overhaul, saying his legal troubles create a conflict of interest. Instead, his Attorney General, a close confidante, is leading the charge. On Sunday, Netanyahu called the restrictions on him “obviously ridiculous”.
Recent polls show that most Israelis, including many Netanyahu supporters, are in favor of stopping legislation and moving forward by consensus.
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Associated Press reporter Ami Bentov in Tel Aviv, Israel contributed to this report.