The main thoroughfare in Tel Aviv was blocked on Thursday by thousands of right-wing Israelis who demonstrated in support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the country’s judicial system.
“The nation demands legal reform!” chanted some demonstrators with blue and white Israeli flags.
The crowd was much smaller than the hundreds of thousands who have taken to the streets in recent months to oppose the plan.
But the gathering had the same effect. Protesters honked in cars and raised Israeli flags as they disrupted traffic along the Ayalon Highway, the main north-south highway that runs through the coastal city.
Police said they were responding to a group that blocked a freeway, the site of an almost weekly stop for protesters who see Netanyahu’s plan as a threat to the independence of the judiciary.
Worried about internal turmoil and expressions of unease and disapproval in Washington, Netanyahu on Monday suspended a major overhaul to negotiate a compromise between his sectarian-nationalist coalition and opposition parties.
But his opponents also vowed to continue their protests.
The plan would give Netanyahu’s parliamentary coalition control over the appointment of judges and the power to overturn Supreme Court decisions it opposes.
Netanyahu and his allies say the plan is needed to curb a system of unelected activist judges who wield too much power in political matters.
Opponents say the changes would destroy checks and balances, concentrating too much power in the hands of Netanyahu and his parliamentary allies.
They also say that the prime minister has a conflict of interest while he is on trial for criminal charges, and he has no business interfering with the country’s legal system.
