From the Liveblog of
Saturday, July 22, 2023
Protesters reach Jerusalem outskirts, begin ‘last leg’ of march to Knesset
The anti-overhaul protest march has now reached Motza, a suburb on Jerusalem’s outskirts, as demonstrators near the capital after a march that began with a handful of people in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening and has now swollen to tens of thousands.
Protest organizers say demonstrators took a break before setting out on “the last leg of the march ending outside the Knesset,” where they are due to arrive this evening for a mass rally.
Along with the demonstration there, major protests are due to be held at Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street and at some 150 other spots across Israel as part of the 29th series of weekly rallies against the judicial shakeup.
הצעדה נעה על כביש 1 לכיוון ירושלים pic.twitter.com/yNLwa0dAUw
— Bar Peleg (@bar_peleg) July 22, 2023
Tomorrow morning, the Knesset is set to begin debating the “reasonableness” bill ahead of its second and third (final) readings, scheduled for Monday. The bill bars judicial review of the “reasonableness” of government and ministerial decisions. It would be the first law to pass of the coalition’s planned judicial overhaul package, which is set to give the government near-complete control over the appointment of Israel’s judges, and widely constrain the High Court’s capacity to overrule laws and government decisions.
Amid unprecedented opposition from within the Israel Air Force and other parts of the military, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said last night that he was “taking measures in order to reach a wide consensus” on the imminent legislation.
