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Hundreds of judicial reform protestors block Haifa port

Protest leaders say they are determined to block Ben Gurion International Airport as well.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Hundreds of reservists and civilian protesters blocked the roads leading to the port of Haifa Monday morning to protest the government’s resumption of work on judicial reform legislation in the Knesset.

Labeling the effort to restrict the judiciary’s usage of the subjective “reasonableness” clause when overturning government appointments as the “corruption clause,” Israeli flag-waving and horn-blowing protestors stood at three different entrances for over two hours to block access to the terminal. They also put barbed-wire barriers in the streets.

In a PR stunt, the soldier’s group called Brothers in Arms hauled out of a van large replicas of what they called “Polish salamis that they are trying to smuggle to [Justice Minister] Yariv Levin.” According to anti-judicial reform groups, the coalition, led by Levin, is mimicking the behavior of Poland’s nationalist government.

The police eventually dispersed the crowds.

When criticized for continuing the protest even while a large IDF force was beginning an anti-terror operation in Jenin both on the ground and from the air, the protest leaders said “Our hearts are with the soldiers and the security forces who are operating against the terrorist organizations.”

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It wouldn’t stop them, they added, because “our role as civilians is to protect democracy and values of Israel’s declaration of independence. Facing a dangerous and extreme government who rushes toward dictatorship, we have no choice but to voice our resistance, including this tense day.”

Protest leaders are also determined to block Israel’s main Terminal 3 at Ben Gurion Airport at 5:30 Monday, approximately at the time that the Knesset MKs will be discussing the legislation in the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.

The Airport Authority has brought in more manpower in the hope that the extra personnel will manage to overcome any possible disruptions to the flight schedule. It also officially notified travelers of “possible delays to flights, due to disturbances on the ground.”

The police have restricted the number of demonstrators at the airport to 5,000 and said they will show “zero tolerance” to the disruption of traffic of Israel’s main highway that leads to the terminals.