Israeli Prime Minister May Suspend Judicial Reform After Massive Protests

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to postpone a judicial reform that limits the rights of the Supreme Court. This was announced to the country’s public radio station Kan by the country’s security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, after talks with the prime minister. As a result of the consultations, it was decided to postpone the approval of the judicial reform in Parliament until the summer session. Prior to this, Ben-Gvir had strongly opposed the postponement. The fact that Netanyahu agreed to a delay was previously reported by the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz newspapers. The prime minister himself did not make an official address at the time of the release of the issue.

The judicial reform bill sparked the largest protests in 18 years, which have now lasted for three months. On March 26, 630,000 people came out to protest against a population of 9.5 million, and unions went on strike from March 27, in which doctors, kindergarten teachers, university teachers, officials and air traffic controllers took part. The reservists of the elite branches of the military refused to go through the training camp. Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke out in favor of rejecting the reform.