Over 200,000 across Israel protest judicial reform; illegal rally on major highway

Protesters lit a fire and broke the barrier blocking the entrance to the Ayalon highway.

By World Israel News Staff

More than 200,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv and other cities in Israel on Saturday night for the ninth week in a row, to protest against the government’s controversial plan to overhaul the country’s left-leaning judiciary.

A few hundred protesters at the rally in Tel Aviv broke through a barrier at HaShalom interchange, a major highway exit, by lighting a fire and descended onto the Ayalon highway. Police declared it an “‘illegal demonstration.”

Police officers on horseback disperse the protesters and arrest three.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir described the protesters as “anarchists” who are seeking “to set the ‘state of Tel Aviv’ on fire,” referencing an adage that suggests that Tel Aviv is a separate entity from the rest of the country.

Another 20,000 protesters took to the streets in Netanya; 15,000 in Haifa; 13,500 in Kfar Saba; and 5,300 in Herzliya.

In Herzliya, opposition leader Yair Lapid in Herzliya said: “We believe that we have no existence if Israel is not a strong liberal democracy. We believe in the common good even if the government tries to divide us. We believe that our basic rights are not something that the government gave us as a gift and they are certainly not something that the government can take away from us.”

In Beersheba, former defense minister Benny Gantz echoed Lapid’s words, saying: “Those who are here tonight are people who want to protect the country, who work for the state and serve the entire Israeli society and come from all places. Jews, Arabs, religious and secular, and I think this is very important and we must continue for two reasons – because we don’t have another country and because we don’t have another way.”