A mile-long caravan of anti-government protesters entered Jerusalem on Saturday night, turning the main road leading to the city into a sea of blue-and-white Israeli flags, to protest against the far-right government’s plan to restrict judicial power.
With temperatures sometimes approaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit, hundreds of protesters marched Tuesday night from Tel Aviv, a coastal city about 40 miles away, and camped for four nights along the route. Many more joined them in the following days, and by Saturday the number of marchers had grown to at least 20,000, despite the scorching heat.
By the time the march reached the outskirts of Jerusalem on Saturday, marchers were walking 10 people, forcing cars into a single lane. The pole extends at least two miles and includes people in motorized wheelchairs and at least one person on crutches.
“Have you ever seen anything like this?” Ilana Holzman, 65, a protester from Tel Aviv, who joined the march for the final leg on Saturday, said.
“I think this is the only place right now,” Ms. Holzman said. “Not at the beach and not in the air conditioner. Here you see the people of Israel at their best. It’s horribly hot, but they’re still marching.”
The unusual scene reflects the intensity of emotions that pervaded Israeli society this weekend, as the coalition ruled prepare to pass the law The coming days will limit the ways in which the Supreme Court can overturn government decisions.
The country’s largest trade union, Histadrut, announced on Saturday night that it was holding an emergency meeting in response to the government’s plan, amid speculation it could call a general strike.
A tent city sprang up in Jerusalem park below the Parliament building as some protesters marched to the settlement city for what could be even more stormy days of protests ahead.
Hundreds of thousands of other protesters have simultaneously held rallies in many cities across the country for the 29th consecutive week. A group representing military reservists from all branches of the military has announced that some 10,000 Israelis have announced that they will stop performing their reserve service if the law is passed, in addition to more than 1,000 Air Force members who have already done so. similar threats in recent days.
And a group of former senior Israeli security leaders published a joint letter calling on Mr. Netanyahu to postpone a vote on the law unless it is amended by consensus, citing reserve force protests and risks to Israel’s military capabilities.
Signing the letter were three former military commanders; five former heads of the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency; three former directors of Shin Bet, the internal security agency; and four former police commissioners.
Negotiations to reach a compromise by the 11th hour are still underway and could result in the plan being reduced or postponed. But for now, lawmakers are expected to hold a binding vote on the law on Monday in Parliament, where the governing coalition holds a four-seat majority.
The law would prevent a court from dismissing the national government using the legal standard of “rationality,” a concept that judges have previously used to block ministerial appointments and oppose planning decisions, among other government measures.
The government and supporters say the new law will improve democracy by restoring the balance of power between elected lawmakers and unelected judges, while giving lawmakers more freedom to implement the policies chosen by a majority of voters at the ballot box.
“The right balance between the authorities has been disturbed over the past decades,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech on Thursday. “This balance must be restored so that the democratic choice of the people can be expressed by the government elected by the people.”
Courts can still use other legal standards to challenge government decisions.
But much of the country, including those marching on Saturday, say the law undermines democracy because it would remove a key check for government transgressions. This, they say, could allow the government – the most extreme and ultra-conservative nationalist government in Israel’s history – to build a much less pluralistic society.
“We are marching because the government is, in short, trying to turn us into a dictatorship,” said Navot Silberstein, 31, shortly after reaching the top of a steep hill west of Jerusalem on Friday night.
“We wouldn’t live in a country where the government has so much power over us,” added Mr Silberstein, his shirt drenched in sweat after walking for hours in the sun.
This disagreement is part of much broader and longer-lasting social disputes on the nature and future of Israeli society. The ruling coalition and its base are generally more religious and conservative in vision, and see the courts as an obstacle to that goal. The opposition tends to have a more secular and diverse vision, and sees the courts as the standard-bearer of its cause.
Some opponents fear that the law will make it easier for the government to enforce ultra-Orthodox activity in public life, such as forcing shops to close on the Sabbath or enforcing sexism in public spaces. Others fear the law will make it easier for government leaders to get away with corruption, or that Mr. Netanyahu, who is currently on trial for bribery and fraud, escape punishment, a claim he vehemently denies.
“The scary thing is that our country won’t be what it is today,” Holzman said of the judicial overhaul.
Similar mass protests in March prompted the government to suspend, at least for the time being, other planned judicial changes. One of the suspended plans would allow Parliament to overrule court decisions; another case would give the government more influence over who becomes a Supreme Court justice.
