Judicial reform protests continue for 19th straight week, albeit vastly reduced due threats of Gaza rockets
Protests against the Israeli government’s proposed judicial reform plans were held for the 19th consecutive week across the country.
However, the number of protesters were far fewer than usual due to threats of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.
Main organizers of the weekly protests canceled the demonstrations but some activists decided to protest anyway.
A few hundred protesters gathered in Tel Aviv, instead of the usual tens and even hundreds of thousands that have previously demonstrated for the last five months.
Larger anti-judicial overhaul protests gathered in the north since the threat related mainly to the south and center of the country. Some 5,000 Israelis gathered in the northern coastal city of Haifa. In addition, small crowds gathered in other towns across the Jewish state.
Shikma Bressler, one of the protest movement leaders, promised that the protests would continue regardless of the challenges on the ground.
“Rain or sunshine, hot or cold, during war or peace, we’re here,” stated Bressler.
Seeming to downplay security threats to Israel, Bressler argued that the planned judicial overhaul constituted the true existential threat to the Jewish state.
“We understand well the only danger that really threatens the existence of the state of Israel is the judicial overhaul,” said Bressler.
The Egyptian government succeeded in mediating a tense ceasefire between Israel and the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad on Saturday evening.
The Gaza-based terror group fired more that 1,200 rockets into Israel, killing one Israeli citizen and a Gazan worker in the country.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
