Thousands of people gathered again on Thursday in Tel Aviv and other cities in Israel to demonstrate against the judicial reform wanted by the government of Benyamin Netanyahu and to protest against, among other things, the high cost of living.
Since the announcement of this reform project in early January, tens of thousands of Israelis have gathered every week to denounce the text - considered undemocratic by its detractors - and to shout down the government formed in December by the Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, one of the most right-wingers in Israel's history.
Benyamin Netanyahu announced on March 27 a "
pause
" to give a "
chance (...) to dialogue
", but the mobilization against the reform remains strong.
Rallies took place outside the president's residence in Jerusalem as well as the homes of ministers and an ultra-Orthodox chief rabbi in Bnei Brak.
"The Scarlet Maid"
Protesters also marched in Tel Aviv dressed in the red tunic and white cap from "
The Scarlet Handmaid
", a novel that describes an America transformed into a patriarchal dictatorship where some women become sex slaves.
The organizers of these demonstrations had also called for protests against the rise in food prices or for equality in the face of military service, from which the ultra-Orthodox are exempt.
Major traffic arteries were blocked, including Kaplan Street and the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv.
For the government, the judicial reform aims, among other things, to rebalance powers by reducing the prerogatives of the Supreme Court, which the executive considers politicized, in favor of Parliament.
Critics of the reform believe, on the contrary, that it risks leading to an authoritarian drift or one that does not respect the liberal spirit of Israel.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has been negotiating for a month with representatives of the government and the opposition in order to reach a compromise on the terms of this reform.