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On a day of turbulence in the streets and in the halls of power alike, Israeli lawmakers on Monday enacted a major change in law to weaken the judiciary, capping a monthslong campaign by the right-wing governing coalition that is pitting Israelis against one another with rare ferocity. Throngs of protesters outside the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, and opposition lawmakers inside shouted that the change was a grievous blow to the rule of law, to the rights of citizens and to democracy itself. Coalition members countered that it was the judiciary that posed a threat to democracy, and said that they planned to take further steps to curb it. The measure strips Israel’s Supreme Court of the power to overturn government actions and appointments it deems “unreasonable,” a practice that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing governing coalition says has effectively given the court veto power over the will of the majority. Still on the coalition’s agenda are plans to give the government more power over the selection of Supreme Court justices, among other changes.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu’s Organizations: Coalition Locations: Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was rushed to the hospital early Sunday for surgery to implant a heart pacemaker, casting new uncertainty over his government’s deeply contentious plan to pass a law on Monday to limit judicial power. Doctors at the Sheba Medical Center, east of Tel Aviv, said on Sunday morning that the unexpected procedure had been successful and that “the prime minister is doing very well.” But Mr. Netanyahu was expected to remain hospitalized until at least Monday, a spokesman for the hospital said. The government’s weekly cabinet meeting, originally scheduled for Sunday morning, was postponed until Monday, and it was unclear whether a vote in Parliament over the judicial overhaul would proceed on Monday as planned. Mr. Netanyahu’s surgery came amid what many consider to be Israel’s gravest domestic crisis since its founding 75 years ago.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Netanyahu, Netanyahu’s Organizations: Sheba Medical Locations: Tel Aviv

A miles-long column of antigovernment demonstrators marched into Jerusalem on Saturday evening, turning the main road to the city into a sea of blue-and-white Israeli flags, to protest the far-right government’s plan to limit judicial power. Many more joined them on subsequent days, and by Saturday the number of marchers had swelled to at least 20,000, despite the scorching heat. By the time the march reached the outskirts of Jerusalem on Saturday, the marchers were walking 10 abreast, forcing cars into a single lane of traffic. The column stretched for at least two miles and included people in motorized wheelchairs and at least one person on crutches. “Have you ever seen anything like this?” said Ilana Holzman, 65, a protester from Tel Aviv who had joined the march for its last leg on Saturday.

Persons: ”, Ilana Holzman Locations: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv

☆ A Story of Arab Loss Comes to Life at a Kibbutz in Israel
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-22 | by ( Isabel Kershner | More About Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In 1946, at 16, she gave birth to Walid, Mr. Abu Shakra’s elder brother. As fighting raged in 1948 between Arab armies, Palestinian irregulars and Zionist forces, Mariam and her family fled to a Palestinian farming village, Umm al-Fahem. Today, that village has become a working-class city that sprawls across the hills a few miles west of the Jezreel Valley. His art inspired other family members to follow in his footsteps. His younger brother Said embraced video art — his installation with his mother sharing fading memories is one of the centerpieces of the Ein Harod retrospective.

Persons: Walid, Abu Shakra’s, Mariam, Said, Ein Locations: Umm, Jezreel, Walid, Tel Aviv, Hadera, Umm al

☆ Protests Simmer in Israel as Country’s President Prepares to Address Congress
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Isabel Kershner | More About Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Small protests cropped up across Israel on Wednesday, illustrating the broad, grass-roots nature of popular opposition to plans by the government to overhaul the country’s judiciary, drawing in key sectors of the economy, the security establishment and society. Employees of Israel’s vaunted high-tech industry gathered on bridges and at busy junctions. Scores of people set off on a 40-mile trek on foot from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The protests appeared timed to coincide with a planned address to the U.S. Congress by President Isaac Herzog later on Wednesday that would come at a fraught period in the relations between Israel and the United States. On Tuesday, President Biden held a meeting with Mr. Herzog, who serves as Israel’s mostly ceremonial president, at the White House.

Persons: Isaac Herzog, Biden, Herzog Organizations: Doctors, U.S, White Locations: Israel, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, United States

☆ What’s Next for Israel’s Judicial Overhaul?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Isabel Kershner | More About Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

They call it “salami tactics.”Critics of the plan by Israel’s right-wing government to overhaul the country’s judiciary accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of slicing up the original legislative package in a bid to make it more palatable. Some protesters made that point by brandishing giant plastic salamis during large-scale protests on Tuesday. But Mr. Netanyahu may be searching for ways to proceed with the plan more slowly after protests in March brought parts of the country to a virtual standstill. On Wednesday, the Parliament took a step that maintained the longstanding format of the committee that selects judges. By using a more piecemeal approach to the judicial overhaul, Mr. Netanyahu may be trying to appease his hard-line coalition partners, who insist on seeing some progress on their goals, while trying to make the changes easier for critics to swallow.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr, Netanyahu

☆ Israel’s Major Incursion in the West Bank Is Over. Did It Solve Anything?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Isabel Kershner | More About Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Before 8 a.m. on Wednesday, the Israeli military said it had finished its incursion into the West Bank city of Jenin, aimed at curbing attacks on Israelis by armed Palestinians. The 48-hour military operation was one of the largest in many years against armed militant groups in the occupied West Bank, including deadly airstrikes not seen in the area for about two decades. But few Israelis or Palestinians harbored any illusions, saying that before long, the groups that lost weapons and people to the incursion would rebuild and the troops would be back. Three decades after the Oslo peace process raised hopes that Palestinian and Israeli states could exist side by side, prospects for peaceful coexistence seem ever more remote. Underlying sources of Palestinian anger remain, including the West Bank occupation dating to the 1967 Middle Eastern war, continued encroachment by Jewish settlements and a lack of economic opportunity.

Organizations: West Bank Locations: Jenin, Oslo

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