Huge protests as Israel's judicial reforms go through
Israel's parliament on Monday ratified the first bill of a judicial overhaul sought by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after last-gasp compromise efforts collapsed and failed to ease a constitutional crisis convulsing the country for months. The amendment limiting the Supreme Court's powers to void some government decisions if it deemed them "unreasonable" passed by a 64-to-0 vote after opposition lawmakers abandoned the session in protest, some of them shouting: "For shame!" Demonstrations against the amendment began early in the day with police dragging away protesters who had chained themselves to posts and blocked the road outside parliament. By evening, thousands had taken to the streets across the country, blocking highways and scuffling with police. Israeli police said at least 19 people had been arrested on Monday. But the government held firm. Justice Minister Yariv Levin, an architect of the legislative package cast by Netanyahu as needed to create more balance among branches of government, called Monday's vote a "first step". The amendment is part of broader judicial changes the government announced in January, soon after it was sworn in, which it says are needed to push back against what it describes as overreach by a Supreme Court that it says has become too politically interventionist. Critics say the changes will open the door to abuses of power by removing effective checks on the executive's authority. The planned changes have caused months of unprecedented nationwide protests and stirred concern among allies abroad for Israel's democratic health. Within minutes of the vote, a political watchdog group and the centrist opposition leader said they would appeal against the law at the Supreme Court. Netanyahu, in televised remarks after sundown as the protests raged, said he would seek dialogue with the opposition with the aim of reaching an all-inclusive agreement by the end of November. "We all agree that Israel must remain a strong democracy, that it must continue protecting individual rights for everyone, that it will not become a state of (Jewish law), that the courts will remain independent," said Netanyahu, who had been discharged from hospital in the morning fitted with a pacemaker. Protesters who had converged on Jerusalem blocked a highway near parliament and were cleared by police dragging them across the asphalt and using water cannons, including one that sprayed a foul-smelling substance. In Tel Aviv, horse-mounted police tried to disperse a crowd on the main highway, where protesters lit small fires. (Reuters)