As published in The Times.
Thousands of Israeli protesters took to the streets today, blocking motorways and thronging the main airport in response to a vote passed just after midnight that severely limited the powers of the Supreme Court.
Up to 15,000 people assembled at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport and some clashed with the police while trying to cut off access to the main terminal.
Demonstrators who had called for an anti-government “day of disruption” grappled with police outside the arrivals hall when officers tried to move the protest to a smaller terminal. Some protestors had arrived with luggage, pretending to be passengers and entering the departures area, where they began singing the Israeli national anthem before they were removed.
Many in the crowd outside the airport wore ear defenders as they emphasised their chants with drums, vuvuzelas and loudspeakers. About 84,000 passengers are due to pass through the airport today on roughly 500 flights.
The protests began around 6am when hundreds of pro-democracy activists, many of them belonging to a group of reserve officers in the Israeli army, set up a makeshift tent camp on the main coastal motorway north of Tel Aviv.
They hung a banner on a bridge spanning the road reading: “No Entrance to Dictatorship.” Other groups began simultaneously to block motorways leading to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa as police moved in with water cannon and began arresting demonstrators.
According to the police, at least seventy protesters were detained in locations around the country. One of the protests took place outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, where protesters blocked the main road leading to the prime minister’s office and were pushed back by mounted police.
Hundreds of reserve officers in the Israeli army have signed petitions refusing to turn up for duty.
Last night’s legal bill, passed in its first Knesset reading by the votes of the entire coalition of the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, eliminates the authority of the Supreme Court to rule against government policies, appointments and decisions on the grounds of them being unreasonable.
The law’s opponents claim that it will drastically hobble judicial review and leave the government with untrammelled powers, a prospect that has already led to months of furious demonstrations. Netanyahu responded in a video statement before the debate last night that “correcting the reasonableness argument is not the end of the democracy; it is strengthening the democracy”.
The 64-56 vote in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, is just the first reading and there is the possibility that changes will be made to the legislation before it becomes law. The opposition leaders, Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz, have demanded emergency talks with the government on constitutional changes.
The coalition government began trying six months ago to pass a series of laws aimed at weakening the Supreme Court, which were met by protests and threats by Israeli technology companies to transfer their money and business out of the country. Netanyahu announced in late March that he was “suspending” the process in favour of talks with the opposition, which were held under the auspices of President Herzog, but the talks broke down last month and two weeks ago the government re-started the legislation.
The critics of Netanyahu’s reforms include 300 reservists who work in cyberwarfare units of the military and security services, who said they would refuse to turn up for duty.
In an open letter they said: “Cyber-capabilities that are sensitive and have the potential to be misused must not be entrusted to a criminal government that undermines the foundations of democracy. Confidence in the government’s ability to direct offensive cyber-activity has been deeply fractured. This is a clear and immediate danger.”
They added: “Therefore, we, the 300 signatories... are immediately withdrawing from our voluntary reserve service. We will not develop capabilities for a criminal regime, and we will not assist in training the future generation of cyber [warfare soldiers].”
Among the protesters outside the Supreme Court was Danny Daniel, 68, an activist and former director of the largest culture centre in Jerusalem. He said he was there “out of massive concern for the future of Israel and of my family, my five grandchildren. I have to fight for their future and that’s why I’m here, prepared to be arrested if necessary.”
Meanwhile, in the Knesset, the justice committee continued debating the new law and preparing it for the final readings, due next week.