Protesters block roads in ‘day of disruption’ against judicial overhaul plan

Israeli protesters have blocked roads and gathered outside Tel Aviv’s stock exchange and military headquarters in the latest countrywide demonstration against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned judicial overhaul.

The latest “day of disruption” on Tuesday came as longtime allies of the prime minister pushed a contentious piece of legislation through a parliamentary committee ahead of a vote expected next week.

Additional protests are planned throughout the day.

Demonstrators, many of them military reservists, created human chains and blocked one of the entrances to the Kirya, Israel’s military headquarters in central Tel Aviv.

Police closed a central station in Tel Aviv, preventing hundreds of protesters from entering.

Outside the Tel Aviv stock exchange, demonstrators ignited smoke bombs, drummed and chanted and held up signs reading “save our startup nation” and “dictatorship will kill the economy”.

Others demonstrated outside the headquarters of the Histadrut, Israel’s largest labour union, demanding the organisation calls for a general strike — a move that could paralyse the country’s economy.

Protesters scaled scaffolding outside the building and hoisted reservist protest flags.

The labour union had called a strike in March, a move that contributed to Mr Netanyahu freezing the judicial overhaul.

Itai Bar Natan, 48, chief financial officer of an Israeli start-up, said he was angry enough to climb the scaffolding and wave the flag that read “Brothers in arms”.

“This government is totally insane. We are afraid for our democracy, for everything we’ve built — that’s why we are all here fighting,” Mr Natan said.

Mr Netanyahu heads the most ultranationalist and religiously conservative government in Israel’s 75-year history.

He proposed a series of drastic changes to the country’s judiciary shortly after taking office in December.

His government took office in the aftermath of the country’s fifth elections in under four years, all of them regarded as referendums on his fitness to serve as prime minister while on trial for corruption.

The weekly mass protests led Mr Netanyahu to suspend the overhaul in March but he decided to revive the plan last month after compromise talks with the political opposition collapsed.

The proposed laws would grant politicians greater control over the appointment of judges and give parliament the power to overturn high court decisions and pass laws impervious to judicial review.

The Bill making its way through parliament this week would eliminate the Supreme Court’s ability to strike down government decisions it deems unreasonable.

He and his allies say the measures are necessary to curb an over-activist Supreme Court comprised of unelected judges.

Critics say the judicial overhaul will concentrate power in the hands of Mr Netanyahu and his allies and undermine the country’s system of checks and balances.

They also say Mr Netanyahu has a conflict of interest because he is on trial for charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes.