Demonstrators wave Israeli flags as they march in Jerusalem on July 22, 2023, during a multi-day march that started in Tel Aviv to protest the government's judicial overhaul bill ahead of a vote in the parliament. (PHOTO / AFP)
JERUSALEM – Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated across the country on Saturday evening against the government's plan to overhaul the judicial system.
The protesters intensified actions, which have entered the 29th week, ahead of the final vote on a bill that would limit the power of the courts to review government decisions and appointments.
In Jerusalem, the foreground of the demonstration, around 35,000 protesters, joined by many passers-by along the way, completed a 70-km march from Tel Aviv that began on Thursday
The vote is expected on Monday next week and will likely pass due to the majority Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's nationalist-religious coalition has in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.
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In Jerusalem, the foreground of the demonstration, around 35,000 protesters, joined by many passers-by along the way, completed a 70-km march from Tel Aviv that began on Thursday. The demonstrators gathered in the vicinity of the parliament and other key ministries, said the police.
Also on Saturday evening, Israeli military reservists announced at a press conference that they had over 10,000 signatures saying they would not show up for duty.
For months since the government announced its controversial judicial overhaul plan, Israeli media has reported an increase in the number of military reservists' defections, raising concerns about how this may affect military preparedness.
Media outlets reported that the head of Israel's largest labor union will also hold an urgent meeting overnight in order to decide whether to launch a general strike in the country.
Government supporters are expected to stage a massive protest on Sunday to defend the judicial reform.
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Netanyahu and his partners have stressed that the reforms are necessary in order to limit the judicial system, which has become too powerful in recent decades. They also said the supreme court often intervenes in political issues that should be determined by the parliament.
Demonstrators said that the reforms will weaken the courts and give the ruling coalition limitless power.
Netanyahu pacemaker
Meanwhile, Netanyahu will be fitted with a pacemaker overnight between Saturday and Sunday, he said in a video statement released by his office.
"A week ago I was fitted with a monitoring device. That device beeped this evening and said I must receive a pacemaker and that I must do this already tonight," Netanyahu said in the video. "I feel great, but I need to listen to my doctors."
Netanyahu, 73, was standing in the video and smiling. He said his doctors assured him he would be discharged from the hospital "tomorrow afternoon." Justice Minister Yariv Levin will replace him during the procedure, Netanyahu's office said.
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Netanyahu will undergo the procedure at Sheba Medical Center in Tel HaShomer, his office said. He had been hospitalized there overnight on July 15 for what he said was dehydration from holidaying at the Sea of Galilee without properly protecting himself from a heatwave.
The hospital on July 16 confirmed its original diagnosis of dehydration and said additional tests involving a subcutaneous holter monitor had found Netanyahu to be "in complete cardiac health," though the device would allow his medical team to continue monitoring his health.
With Reuters inputs