Annisa Essack | kzn@radioislam.org.za
17 July 2023 | 11:00 CAT
2 min read

Photo Credit: Quartz

In Israel, thousands of protesters blocked highways and demonstrated at the country’s main airport. They say they fear for the future of Israeli democracy as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has revived his plan to weaken the judiciary.

Yossef Mekyton, an Israeli Peace Activist, spoke to Radio Islam International and provided insight into the current situation after Israel’s parliament initially approved the bill that would see the judicial overhaul.

He says that Benjamín Netanyahu and his ruling right-wing party coalition want to change the rules allowing the system to be in their favour to keep them in power perpetually and to keep Netanyahu out of prison.

“One of the things that they are trying to do is change the position of the judicial system and the Israeli Supreme Court and other judicial power points, so they cannot any more effectively criticise the Israeli government.”

He explained the process that will now take place for the bill to become law. In the 80s, the Israeli Court introduced a concept known as the “probable person”, which gave the court some leeway to interpret constitutional rights, which the ruling party coalition want to remove, allowing them to limit the court in its interpretation of the law.

Mekyton opined that the protesters were merely demanding the preservation or reform of a pretend democracy and would see the Netanyahu government implement extreme measures and see them re-elected.

Israel’s national labour union and medical association, military reservists, fighter pilots and business leaders have joined many groups speaking out against the bill and urging the government to halt the plan. Mekyton says these citizens have a good chance of limiting the coalition as they are well-connected to economic and political powers within and outside Israel, which they use to benefit.

Speaking on media coverage, he said that as both sides are Jewish supremacists, the media aligns with that. He explained that The media hardly covered the criticism of the protesters, especially those who were calling for the end of the Palestinian occupation. Protesters, too, were trying not to align themselves with the anti-occupation and anti-colonialism issues, and the media tows this same line.

Listen to the full interview with Sulaimaan Ravat on Sabahul Muslim here.