Overhaul supporters to rally in Tel Aviv as Knesset debates key bill ahead of vote

Supporters of the judicial overhaul are to hold a rally in Tel Aviv on Sunday evening, calling on the government to push ahead with the controversial legislation that has been met with months of mass protests.

The event will be held under the slogan: “The people are with you – complete the legislation. 64 seats are not second class,” a reference to the number of seats Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government holds in the 120-member Knesset.

The rally is planned for the Kaplan interchange in the city, the exact location which has been a rallying point for protesters in 29 weeks of demonstrations against the overhaul plan, and was renamed by the Tel Aviv municipality last week as “Democracy Square.”

Among those expected to attend the rally are Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, Education Minister Yoav Kisch, and Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem.

Overhaul architects Justice Minister Yariv Levin and MK Simcha Rothman will reportedly address the rally via video link from the Knesset.

The demonstration is set to start at 6 p.m. as the Knesset holds final debates on a key part of the overhaul plan.

The coalition is expected to push through legislation on Monday or Tuesday to cancel the judicial yardstick of “reasonableness,” enacting the law over strong political and societal objections, and despite growing announcements of key army reservists they will stop showing up for duty, as well as diplomatic, professional, social, economic and security concerns raised by key Israeli officials and international allies.

In a statement last week, the pro-overhaul rally organizers said coalition lawmakers should “not hesitate, not blink and not submit to the violence and refusal of a handful of anarchists who are trying to impose their position on an entire country.”

“In a democratic country, it is the public who decides who will lead the policy and make the decisions, not the media elite,” organizers said.

Levin released a video last week calling on supporters to participate in the rally, saying: “We are gathering on Sunday evening in Tel Aviv, to once again strongly express our voice in favor of reform, in favor of true democracy, in favor of respecting the results of the elections.”

Dozens of rabbis from the national religious camp have signed a letter calling on people to participate in the rally.

“It is unthinkable that a vocal minority will impose its opinion on the majority through violence and creating anarchy in the streets and calling for a general refusal to serve the state, just because the decisions of the majority do not please them,” they wrote last week.

Flyers circulated on social media showed buses were being organized to bring demonstrators from a number of locations across the country, the majority of them settlements in the West Bank.

After notification was circulated claiming that there will be increased public transport to assist participation in the rally, Transportation Minister Miri Regev issued a denial, stressing that there would be no special arrangements, just as they are not for anti-overhaul protests, Channel 13 news reported.

According to the Srugim website, organizers of the rally were also behind the so-called “March of the Million,” held in April in Jerusalem to show support for the overhaul legislation. Estimates of crowd size, by news networks that cited figures from firms that specialize in estimating crowd sizes, ranged between 150,000 and 200,000 people.

Sunday’s plenum debate on the bill ahead of its final readings comes a day after anti-overhaul protesters’ “March on Jerusalem” ballooned to tens of thousands of participants as it reached the capital, and joined hundreds of thousands of others protesting in Tel Aviv and throughout the country against the legislation.

Meanwhile, every day has seen thousands more reservists join the list of those who say they will no longer show up for duty.