Israeli police use a water cannon to disperse Israelis blocking a highway during a protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to overhaul the judicial system in Tel Aviv, Israel, March 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Saturday’s events as they unfolded.
Hundreds protest outside Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's home in Moshav Amikam, March 25, 2023. (Screenshot: Twitter)
Over 1,000 demonstrators, led by a group representing reservist soldiers, are protesting outside Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s home in Moshav Amikam in northern Israel.
“Gallant, who is silent out of fear, who realizes that he is responsible for the disintegration of the people’s army, who knows that the IDF soldiers will be charged in The Hague, who lends a hand to the dictatorship,” the Brothers in Arms protest group says.
Increasingly, reservists — who are a key part of the army’s routine activities, including in top units — have warned they will not be able to serve in an undemocratic Israel, which they charge the country will become under the government’s judicial overhaul plan.
כאלף בעמיקם מול ביתו של גלנט. רבים הם מבוגרי חיל הים. עוד בדרך לשם. מפקדו לשעבר, מפקד שייטת 13 וקצין חינוך ראשי לשעבר תא״ל רן גלינקא בראש הנואמים הקוראים לו להתעשת להציל את המצב. pic.twitter.com/KqYUFQiSoD
Thousands of Israelis protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to overhaul the judicial system, in Tel Aviv, March 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Organizers of the protests against the government’s judicial overhaul say tonight’s demonstrations will be held at 150 locations across the country, and for the first time, in the Likud strongholds of Ramla and Beit Shean.
They say the protests are “a historic evening at the beginning of the fateful week for the State of Israel and the fate of the Declaration of Independence.”
“[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s speech of lies proved that he is determined to fight the values of the Declaration of Independence, determined to dismantle the people’s army and the Israeli economy,” the organizers say, referring to a Thursday night televised speech where Netanyahu vowed to continue the overhaul legislation.
“The fate of the country now lies before Israelis who will take to the streets and decide the intention to turn Israel into a dictatorship,” the protest organizers add.
The main rally will begin with a 6:30 p.m. march from Kikar Dizengoff to the central demonstration on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is spotted eating at a non-kosher restaurant during his weekend trip to London.
In a video published by a Channel 13 journalist, Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu can be seen eating at Gordon Ramsey’s River Restaurant at the Savoy Hotel in the British capital.
נתניהו ורעייתו במסעדת מלון סבוי בלונדון היום רגע לפני הפגנת הענק בישראל. ואיזה לובסטר ענק בפריים pic.twitter.com/ChE6yOWh6V
Responding to the clip, opposition leader Yair Lapid tweets: “There is no limit to Netanyahu’s hypocrisy: He eats in a non-kosher restaurant and then runs home to vote for the hametz law.”
Lapid is referring to a controversial bill that would allow hospital directors to ban leavened bread from their institutions during Passover.
Netanyahu has in the past been accused by ultra-Orthodox media of allegedly eating non-kosher food, but has denied the claims.
Around 20 protesters gather outside a hotel in London where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is staying over the weekend.
“The whole world knows that Bibi is a criminal,” the protesters chant.
כ 20 ישראלים מפגינים בשבת מול המלון של נתניהו בלונדון שצופה על התמזה. המפגינים שורקים במשרוקיות וצועקים קריאות "אוי ואבוי ביבי בסאבוי" ו"כל העולם יודע שביבי הוא פושע". המפגינים סיפרו שמדי פעם נראים אנשים מצלמים אותם מקומה גבוהה pic.twitter.com/BTMqX1qhvw
Israeli students march during a protest against the Israeli government's planned judicial overhaul, in Jerusalem, March 23, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Police close main roads in central Tel Aviv ahead of major anti-government rallies that will be held in the coastal city this evening.
Tens of thousands of people are expected at the main protest on Kaplan Street.
Several more large demonstrations are anticipated in other cities around the country, including Jerusalem, Haifa, Herzliya and Beersheba. Organizers say there will be protests at 150 locations across the country.
Opponents of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have been taking to the streets for 12 straight weeks to protest Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s proposals to shake up the judiciary by severely curbing the High Court of Justice’s judicial review powers and cementing political control over the appointment of judges.
Protesters gather at Tel Aviv Habima Square ahead of a march toward Kaplan Street, for a rally against the judicial overhaul, March 25, 2023. (DH/Times of Israel)
Protesters are beginning to hold a march in Tel Aviv from Hambina Square to Kaplan Street, where a main rally against the judicial overhaul will take place.
Previous weeks have seen over 150,000 people participate in the rally in Tel Aviv.
Opponents of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have been taking to the streets for 12 straight weeks to protest Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s proposals to shake up the judiciary by severely curbing the High Court of Justice’s judicial review powers and cementing political control over the appointment of judges.
מתחילים עוד ערב של מחאות. אלפי מפגינים יחלו בקרוב לצעוד מכיכר הבימה למוקד המרכזי בקפלן. הפגנות נוספות יתקיימו ביותר ממאה מוקדים – בהם לראשונה גם רמלה. נמשיך לעדכן פה וב-@WallaNewspic.twitter.com/HgBjcVvIrZ
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant seen during a tour near the border with Lebanon, northern Israel, March 16, 2023. (David Cohen/Flash90)
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will issue a “special statement” at 8:40 p.m., his office says in a brief statement.
There are no further details on the topic of the statement, but it comes days after Gallant was set to hold a televised press conference in which he was widely reported to be planning to call for an immediate halt to the coalition’s bid to overhaul the judiciary.
The Thursday statement was postponed at the request of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israelis protest against the government's planned judicial overhaul in Tel Aviv on March 25, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Channel 12 news reports that there are an estimated 125,000 people gathered at the main protest tonight, at Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv.
Opponents of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have been taking to the streets for 12 straight weeks to protest Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s proposals to shake up the judiciary by severely curbing the High Court of Justice’s judicial review powers and cementing political control over the appointment of judges.
Protesters block the Karkur Junction on the Route 65 highway in northern Israel, March 25, 2023. (Israel Police)
Police say hundreds of protesters are blocking the Karkur Junction on the Route 65 highway in northern Israel, amid rallies against the judicial overhaul.
According to police, four people have been detained for disorderly conduct, including hurling flares.
Police say officers are attempting to clear the junction.
Yuval Noah Harari speaks at a protest against the Israeli government's planned judicial overhaul, in Tel Aviv, March 4, 2023. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Speaking at the main rally against the judicial overhaul in Tel Aviv, Historian Yuval Noah Harari says civil servants and military forces must obey the courts and not the government, should Israel end up in a constitutional crisis.
Addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Harari says: “We know you are responsible for all that is happening. You are not an emissary. You are definitely not an angel. After 2,000 years, we still remember pharaoh. And we will remember you. There’ll be no streets, squares or airports named after you. But we will tell the story of the man who tried to enslave us and failed.”
“You are surrounded by people with no backbone. But we have backbones…We will not be slaves. Next year we will be free people,” he adds.
Speaking at the same rally, Shikma Bressler, a world-renowned physicist and protest leader says the government’s plan to take control of the committee to choose judges, “is the first domino on the path to dictatorship.”
Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter attends a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on January 8, 2023. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Likud MKs, and has asked them to stop the judicial overhaul bills until after Independence Day, multiple Hebrew-language media reports say.
Israel’s Independence Day will be held on April 26.
“There will be no way back,” Dichter is quoted as saying by Channel 12 news.
Dichter, who is a former director of the Shin Bet security agency, joins Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who is reported to have told Netanyahu about the dangers the judicial overhaul will cause to the military.
Israelis protest against the government's planned judicial overhaul in Tel Aviv on March 25, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Channel 12 news reports that there are an estimated 195,000 people gathered at the main protest tonight, at Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv.
Opponents of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have been taking to the streets for 12 straight weeks to protest Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s proposals to shake up the judiciary by severely curbing the High Court of Justice’s judicial review powers and cementing political control over the appointment of judges.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks in a televised address on March 25, 2023, urging a pause to the government's judicial overhaul legislation. (Courtesy)
In a televised speech, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant calls to halt the judicial overhaul legislation in order to hold talks with its opponents.
“Israel’s security is my life’s goal. Even now, I am willing to take a risk and pay a price. The threats around us are immense, near and far,” he says.
Gallant says that in recent weeks he has been speaking to military officials regarding the overhaul plans. “I’m worried about what I’m hearing,” he says.
“I have never encountered the intensity of anger and pain as I have seen now. The rift in society penetrates into the army and this is an immediate and tangible danger to the security of the state. I will not give my hand to this,” Gallant continues.
“We need a change in the judiciary, but major changes must be done with dialogue,” he says.
“The legislative process must be stopped,” Gallant adds.
Head of the Yesh Atid party MK Yair Lapid speaks during a faction meeting at the Knesset on February 27, 2023 (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
Opposition chief Yair Lapid responds to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s speech tonight, in which he called to halt the judicial overhaul.
“Defense Minister Gallant is taking a brave and vital step tonight for the security of the State of Israel. The coup seriously harms national security and it is his role and responsibility to stop the dangerous deterioration,” Lapid says in a statement.
“This is the moment of truth. I call on the government: Stop everything, do not pass the change in the committee for the appointment of judges and the Deri law this week, and come and hold talks at the president’s residence,” he adds.
Itamar Ben Gvir speaking from the Knesset podium on March 22, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fire Defense Minister Gallant over his calls to halt the judicial overhaul.
“I call on the prime minister to fire Gallant, who came in with the votes of the right, but surrendered to the pressure of those who threatened to refuse [to serve in the military], and tries to put a stop to the important reform,” Ben Gvir says in a statement.
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Yuli Edelstein arrives for a committee hearing, March 16, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Likud MKs Yuli Edelstein and David Bitan are backing Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s call to halt the legislation of the judicial overhaul.
Edelstein, who is the chair of the Knesset’s powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, says he thanks Gallant for “joining the path I’ve been leading for weeks.”
“The majority of the people want and understand the need for changes in the judicial system, but this must be done with patience, dialogue, and broad discourse in order to reach a broad consensus,” he says in a statement.
David Bitan, chairman of the Knesset Economic Committee, heads a committee hearing, March 16, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Bitan similarly in a tweet says: “As I already said several weeks ago, the legislation should be stopped and immediate negotiations should be started and broad agreements should be reached. I back the words of my friend the defense minister.”
Earlier, it was reported that Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter was calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pause the overhaul legislation.
Illustrative: The Huwara checkpoint at the entrance of the West Bank town of the same name, following a reported shooting attack, on March 25, 2023. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will hold a meeting with military chief Herzi Halevi and head of the Shin Bet security agency, Ronen Bar, on the shooting attack in Huwara that left two soldiers wounded.
Gallant’s office says the meeting will include other senior defense officials.
The Beilinson Hospital says the two soldiers are suffering from serious and moderate injuries after being shot in the West Bank town. They are not in life-threatening condition.
This aerial view shows people protesting in Tel Aviv against the government's controversial judicial overhaul bill, on March 25, 2023. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)
Police say some 30 protesters are blocking the Ayalon Highway northbound, near Yigal Alon Street in Tel Aviv.
In another area, near the Yitzhak Navon Bridge, police are using a water cannon to disperse protesters attempting to block the highway.
Three people are detained at the scene, police say.
Israelis protest against the government's planned judicial overhaul in Rosh Pina on March 25, 2023. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)
Several thousand protesters against the government’s judicial overhaul and a smaller number of its supporters face off against each other in Or Akiva near Hadera at a heated encounter that ends in three arrests over alleged violence.
The event on Khana Asayag Square in Or Akiva, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party won a whopping 47% of the votes last election, ends without injury or damage, police say.
The three detainees shoved anti-overhaul protesters as they were leaving the square, police add. Haim Barda, one of the pro-overhaul rally’s organizers, denies violence by any of the demonstrators on his side.
The arrests follow clashes on the square at a face-off last week, which featured intimidation and assaults, allegedly by pro-overhaul demonstrators.
Dwarfed by the overhaul supporters last week, the anti-overhaul demonstrators on Saturday return with reinforcements that appear to give them a narrow numerical advantage.
But the opposing camp comes prepared with powerful speakers and drum sets that drown out much of the other side’s bullhorn speeches and other sounds.
Protesters from both sides vow to return next week as the fight rages on over the overhaul, whose advocates say restores the balance of power by transferring some of it from the judiciary to the legislature, and whose opponents say risks turning Israel into a dictatorship.
Dozens of demonstrators, mostly Israelis, protest in New Jersey outside an appearance by Moshe Koppel, a key activist in the formulation of the Israeli government’s overhaul legislation.
Koppel is the head of the Kohelet Policy Forum, a think tank deeply involved in the government’s legislative push that helped write the legislation.
The demonstrators gather in drizzling rain outside a synagogue in Englewood, New Jersey, where Koppel was set to appear.
They carry Israeli flags and signs reading “Save Israel’s Democracy,” “No democracy no future,” and chant “Shame on Kohelet.”
Video shared by protesters shows a demonstration in New Jersey outside an appearance by Moshe Koppel, head of Kohelet, for its role in the Israeli judicial overhaul pic.twitter.com/OpRSo9mcPq
Some dress in costumes from “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a motif in the protests in Israel representing threats to women’s rights and a dystopian future.
Over 200 demonstrators rallied in New York City on Wednesday outside an appearance by Koppel at an Orthodox organization, and have protested in New York City and New Jersey against coalition ministers as they visited the area.
The demonstrators will hold another protest tomorrow in New York City’s Washington Square Park.
The weekly Sunday events have grown bigger in recent weeks, drawing several hundred participants.
Israeli police use a water cannon to disperse Israelis blocking a highway during a protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to overhaul the judicial system in Tel Aviv, Israel, March 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Police say officers have detained 12 people during attempts to disperse a crowd that is blocking the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, amid tonight’s anti-judicial overhaul protests.
This aerial view shows people protesting in Tel Aviv against the government's controversial judicial overhaul bill, on March 25, 2023. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)
Organizers of the anti-overhaul protests claim some 630,000 people took part in nationwide rallies this evening, including nearly 300,000 at the main demonstration in Tel Aviv.
Demonstrators block a highway during a protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to overhaul the judicial system in Tel Aviv, Israel, March 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Police say officers have detained 23 people so far during attempts to disperse a crowd that is blocking the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, amid tonight’s anti-judicial overhaul protests.
Protesters against the judicial overhaul rally outside the Savoy Hotel in London, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is staying, March 25, 2023. (Amy Spiro/Times of Israel)
LONDON — Protesters line the streets outside the Savoy Hotel in London as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu readies to depart the UK and return to Israel.
Demonstrators shouting “shame” and “democracy” have been rallying outside the hotel for several hours this afternoon, after protests yesterday outside the hotel as well as outside 10 Downing Street while Netanyahu met with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Protesters are waiting for Netanyahu outside the Savoy Hotel as he departs London to return to Israel tonight. pic.twitter.com/fZjnRjWO07
Demonstrators block a highway during a protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to overhaul the judicial system in Tel Aviv, Israel, March 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Police say officers have detained 28 people so far during attempts to disperse a crowd that is blocking the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, amid tonight’s anti-judicial overhaul protests.
The highway has been blocked for several hours now.
Israeli police use a water cannon to disperse Israelis blocking the freeway during a protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to overhaul the judicial system in Tel Aviv, Israel, March 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Police say officers have managed to disperse a crowd that was blocking the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, amid tonight’s anti-judicial overhaul protests.
Earlier, police said officers detained 28 people amid the protests on the major thoroughfare in Tel Aviv.
A group of lawyers providing legal aid to protesters against the judicial overhaul says 44 demonstrators have been arrested in the last few hours, including 20 who have since been released.
The group says 32 were arrested in Tel Aviv, 9 at Karkur Junction, and 3 in Jerusalem.
Israel Police forces enter the Al Aqsa Mosque inside Jerusalem’s flashpoint Temple Mount holy site, removing dozens of Palestinians who intended to spend the night there after the Muslim month of Ramadan began on Thursday.
Israel reportedly believes they planned to violently oppose the entry of Jews into the compound in the morning.
Police sources say Jerusalem has agreed with the Jordanian Waqf authorities that no sleepovers would be held on the Temple Mount.
Nevertheless, the evacuation has sparked clashes and calls on Palestinian social media to “defend” the mosque.
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