The Times of Israel is liveblogging Saturday’s events as they unfold.
Anti-overhaul protesters begin blocking traffic on Tel Aviv’s main Ayalon highway
Thousands of protesters in Tel Aviv have embarked Kaplan Square in three different directions to the north, south and east. Police are working to prevent them from marching down Namir Road.
Meanwhile, protesters have begun blocking traffic on Tel Aviv’s main Ayalon highway.
המשטרה מנסה לבלום את הצעדה כבר בהתחלה ולא לאפשר למוחים לנוע על נמיר pic.twitter.com/uHAOHAoYXj
— Bar Peleg (@bar_peleg) July 29, 2023
‘We will always be with you’: Hadag Nahash plays for thousands of Israelis at Jerusalem anti-overhaul protest
The popular Israeli hip-hop/funk band Hadag Nahash is playing a mini-concert for the thousands of Israelis currently attending an anti-overhaul protest outside the President’s Residence in Jerusalem.
Lead singer Sha’anan Streett tells the crowd, “we bow our heads” in support of all those demonstrating nationwide.
Hadag Nahash plays for thousands of anti-overhaul demonstrators outside the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on July 29, 2023. (Screenshot: Protecting our Common Home)
“We will always be with you,” Streett tells the protesters, denouncing the government for tearing the nation apart and dismissing the coalition’s claims that the overhaul legislation passed this week was minor.
Over 200,000 protest across country in first weekend of rallies since overhaul bill passed
An estimated 200,000-plus Israelis are currently protesting across the country against the government’s judicial overhaul in the first weekend of rallies since the coalition passed the first piece of legislation from the controversial package.
In Tel Aviv alone, some 174,000 Israelis are rallying at Kaplan Square, according to Channel 13. The Ynet news site has the figure there at roughly 160,000.
Tens of thousands of Israelis are protesting in dozens of other cities across the country.
Democrats introduce symbolic resolution in solidarity with anti-overhaul protesters
Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky has introduced a resolution in the House that would express solidarity with the anti-overhaul protest movement in Israel.
The resolution states that “it is the sense of Congress that democracy is at the core of the special relationship between the United States and Israel; Congress opposes actions that undermine Israel’s future as a Jewish, democratic state; and Congress stands with all Israelis seeking to defend liberal democracy, judicial review, and independent political institutions acting in a system of checks and balances.”
It has backing from fellow Democratic Reps. Annie Kuster (NH-02), Jerry Nadler (NY-12), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Julia Brownley (CA-26), Gerry Connolly (VA-11), Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Anna Eshoo (CA-16), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Barbara Lee (CA-12), Mark Takano (CA-39), and Susan Wild (PA-07).
The resolution is symbolic and unlikely to pass.
Netanyahu to huddle with security chiefs tomorrow over Hezbollah tensions
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a meeting with security chiefs tomorrow to discuss the recent uptick in tensions on the northern border with the Lebanese terror group.
Photo essay: Thousands of Israelis protest against judicial overhaul in cities across the country
An anti-overhaul protest in Tel Aviv on July 29, 2023. (Amir Goldstein)
An anti-overhaul protest in Tel Aviv on July 29, 2023. (Yair Palti)
An anti-overhaul protest in Tel Aviv on July 29, 2023. (Alon Banki)
An anti-overhaul protest in Beersheba on July 29, 2023. (Protest Salon Beersheba)
An anti-overhaul protest in Haifa on July 29, 2023. (Dror Gilboa)
An anti-overhaul protest in Tel Aviv on July 29, 2023. (Yael Gadot)
Hadag Nahash plays for thousands of anti-overhaul demonstrators outside the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on July 29, 2023. (Times of Israel)
Rights group blasts police for probing signs of officers who used excessive force
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel tears into police for announcing the opening of an investigation into the publication of signs that featured photos and names of officers who allegedly used excessive force against anti-overhaul protesters.
“There is no basis for harassing protesters for waving signs that tell the truth. Instead of harassing demonstrators and trying to harm freedom of expression, police would be better served ensuring that its officers don’t again employ cruel and sadistic violence [against protesters],” says ACRI’s Avner Pinchuk.
ולמרות הודעת המשטרה, השלטים עדיין נישאים בהפגנה בקפלן.
במקביל בוצעה פניה לפרקליטות שאחראית על עבירות של חופש ביטוי, לא במקרה, כי פשוט לא סומכים על המשטרה. pic.twitter.com/XDORTbdXTI
— Josh Breiner (@JoshBreiner) July 29, 2023
Meanwhile, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir calls the signs a “red line” and expresses his backing for the officers pictured in the posters.
Lapid: We had a compromise on overhaul with PM before he caved to Levin and Ben Gvir
Opposition chair Yair Lapid tells the Kan public broadcaster that he and other leaders in his bloc were close to reaching an 11th-hour agreement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the judicial overhaul but that Justice Minister Yariv Levin and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir blocked its finalization.
“Ben Gvir and Levin entered the room, banged on the table and Netanyahu capitulated to them,” Lapid says.
The opposition chair says the agreement would’ve seen a one-and-a-half-year pause in overhaul legislation that would’ve been codified into law.
“Not an agreement, but a law, because I don’t believe a word Netanyahu says,” Lapid explains.
During that period, the sides would resume talks brokered by President Isaac Herzog aimed at reaching a compromise on judicial reform.
If the sides manage to reach broad agreements during that time, the relevant legislation would be advanced, Lapid says, adding that such a freeze is his condition for any talks with the coalition moving forward.
Lapid adds that it’ll take years to repair the damage caused by the coalition this week when it rammed the first overhaul bill through the Knesset.
Police probe anti-overhaul protesters’ publication of photos of cops who allegedly used excessive force
Police announce that they’ve opened an investigation after it identified anti-overhaul protesters who held signs at a Tel Aviv demonstration that featured the faces and names of a handful of officers who allegedly used excessive force against them at recent rallies.
Police are probing whether to charge the demonstrators behind the posters with insulting a public servant, defamation or incitement to violence.
Likud denies there are cracks in its ranks over overhaul; protest movement agrees
After several Likud lawmakers indicated Friday that they will no longer allow the coalition to bulldoze further judicial overhaul laws through the legislature, the party issues a statement denying that there are any cracks in the ranks of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party.
“There is no rebellion,” the party says. “Everyone wants to reach understandings [with the other side on judicial reform], and a maximum effort should be exerted toward that goal while not granting a veto to the other side.”
The statement notes that on the one hand, Netanyahu bucked those saying that the coalition should not pass the reasonableness bill earlier this week. On the other hand, he bucked those in the party who called for the immediate advancement of the rest of the overhaul legislation by agreeing to hold off on the process until November in order to hold talks with the opposition.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu will work with all his might to lead the continuation of the legislation with as broad of an agreement as possible in the future as well,” Likud adds.
Meanwhile, the Kaplan Force protest movement issues a statement calling the supposed internal rebellions a “smoke screen whose entire function is to buy dictator Netanyahu enough quiet in order to complete his coup.”
Liberman: Netanyahu an immediate danger to the existence of the state
Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman calls Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “an immediate danger to the existence of the state.”
The remarks from Liberman during a Channel 12 interview are the latest from the Yisrael Beytenu chairman against Netanyahu since the two had a bitter falling out years ago.
Liberman also tears into the bill presented by ultra-Orthodox lawmakers on Tuesday to enshrine the value of Torah study in a quasi-constitutional Basic Law, as a way to further cement military draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men.
Liberman says the bill, which was quickly shot down by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party amid backlash, “spells the collapse of the IDF and the end of the Zionist enterprise.”
As for Communication Minister Shlomo Karhi’s proposed reforms for the media market, Liberman calls them a “takeover of the media by the state.”
Thousands block roads in Rehovot and Karkur in anti-overhaul demonstrations
Thousands of Israelis are currently blocking a main road in Rehovot, as well as the Karkur Junction in northern Israel, in protest of the government’s judicial overhaul.
High Court petition claims reasonableness law will expose IDF officers to international probes
Channel 13 reports that a petition has been filed to the High Court of Justice urging it to strike down the reasonableness law passed by the Knesset on Monday on the grounds that it will expose IDF officers to criminal prosecution by international legal bodies.
The petition claims that security chiefs could face prosecution “as a result of the damage to the independence of the law enforcement system in Israel.”
Israel has long maintained that bodies like the International Criminal Court have no legal standing to adjudicate alleged crimes by Israel against the Palestinians because it has its own independent judicial system. Critics of the overhaul assert that the government intends to use it to remove the last remaining check on efforts to permanently expand Israel’s presence in the West Bank at the expense of Palestinians living there.
Protesters begin blocking roads in first weekend rallies since overhaul bill passed
Hundreds of people have begun blocking the Gome Junction in northern Israel in protest of the judicial overhaul being advanced by the government.
It is the 30th consecutive weekend of protests, but the first weekend of rallies since the government advanced the first piece of legislation from its overhaul package.
Protests are scheduled to take place later this evening in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Rehovot, Ramat Gan, Ramat Hasharon, Haifa, Bat Yam, Karkur, Kfar Saba, Rishon Lezion, Modiin, Herzliya, Hod Hasharon, Beersheba, Netanya, Ra’anana, Givat Shmuel, Petah Tikva, Ashdod and Eilat.
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