23d Week of Protests: Thousands Protest Against Crimes Against Arab Minority

For the 23rd week running, Israelis have taken to the streets to protest Prime Minister Netanyahu’s intentions to reorganize the judiciary and the government’s lack of response to the rising crime wave that is harming the Arab minority.

For the 23rd week in a row, thousands of Israelis marched to the streets on Saturday to demonstrate against divisive judicial reform proposals and government inaction over the fatal violence affecting Arab neighborhoods.

The reforms proposed by the hard-right administration would limit the power of the Supreme Court and give lawmakers more control over the appointment of justices.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had declared a “pause” in the reform discussions in March.

Demonstrator Michal Gat declared in central Tel Aviv, where hundreds had gathered, that “our country is being captured by extreme people… we are being held hostage.”

The 47-year-old IT worker told AFP, “We have been here… with our kids, in the rain or hot weather,” for 23 weeks.

“Keeping Israel, a democracy is crucial for the Israeli people.”

a spike in crime

Some demonstrators carried banners criticizing the government’s inactivity in the face of a crime epidemic that has disproportionately hit the nation’s Arab population.

One placard said, “We will not let Ben-Gvir get away with murders in the Arab society,” in reference to Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

According to NGOs, crime-related violence has killed approximately 100 people in Arab Israeli communities since the beginning of the year.

According to police, five Arab Israelis were killed on Thursday at a car wash in Yafia, an Arab town near Nazareth.

For a long time, Arabs in Israel have voiced their dissatisfaction with police inaction in the face of disproportionately targeting their communities with violence and crime.

On Saturday, organizers said there would be more demonstrations all over Israel, including in the cities of Haifa and Rehovot.

Israel’s state budget was approved by parliament last month, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to “continue our efforts to reach understandings as broad as possible on the legal reform.”

Netanyahu’s administration, an alliance between his Likud party and outrageous right and super Universal Jewish partners, contends the progressions are expected to rebalance powers among legislators and the legal executive.

Big Waves of protests

For the 22nd week in a row, tens of thousands of people demonstrated against a controversial plan to reform Israel’s judicial system in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities on Saturday.

The public authority’s change proposition would reduce the power of the High Court and give legislators more noteworthy controls over the choice of judges.

A “pause” had been announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in March to allow talks on the reforms, which were moving through parliament and dividing the nation.

According to Israeli media, the protest on Saturday attracted nearly 100,000 attendees to Tel Aviv. Official figures for the number of demonstrators are not provided by the police.

In a demonstration that the police deemed to be unauthorised, several hundred Israelis demonstrated on Friday outside of Netanyahu’s private residence in Caesarea, north of Tel Aviv. At least 17 arrests were made.