Protesters outside Levin’s home: ‘The people want a hostage deal and instead the coalition brings back the judicial overhaul’

Protesters rally outside the Modiin home of Justice Minister Yariv Levin, demonstrating against the government’s renewed plans to overhaul the judicial system.

“The people of Israel are waiting with bated breath for a hostage deal, and the Israeli government instead sees this as an opportunity to restore the judicial overhaul,” protest organizers say in a statement.

“The people of Israel cannot remain silent when the Israeli government decides to destroy the foundations of democracy and the future of the country,” organizers say.

Levin and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar put forward a new plan for a judicial overhaul last week.

They hope to pass their new proposals into law by the end of February — a very short timeframe for such consequential legislation — but they will not need to start from the beginning of the legislative process, neither the planned changes to the Judicial Selection Committee nor for doing away with the seniority system for the election of Supreme Court president.

The ministers intend to use previous legislation on overhauling the Judicial Selection Committee that was on the cusp of being passed in its final Knesset readings in March 2023, and bring it back to the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, where it will be amended with the details of the new proposal.

It would then need to be approved in committee before coming to the Knesset for back-to-back second and third readings.