Former Israel PM warns of 'civil war' over judicial overhaul as settler car 'rams protesters'

Three Israeli protesters have been injured in a car ramming on Monday amid rising tensions over the planned judicial upheaval that a former prime minister has said is leading to "civil war".  

The driver, allegedly a West Bank settler, drove at high speed into a huge group of protestors carrying Israeli flags on Route 531, hitting dozens of people and causing a fire to erupt as the vehicle passed through the crowd. 

"The car just zoomed toward us," a witness told Haaretz. "I saw several people on the ground and him running away," said another. "He didn't stop for a moment."

💥A West Bank settler has been arrested for attempting to ram protesters on Route 531. Three wounded. pic.twitter.com/W3CHCaDDOE

— Noga Tarnopolsky נגה טרנופולסקי نوغا ترنوبولسكي💙 (@NTarnopolsky) July 24, 2023

Police have arrested a suspect, but many observers have drawn stark comparisons with how suspects of car-ramming incidents are treated when the driver is Palestinian. 

"This antisemitic terrorist has attacked citizens of occupied Palestine. With a car ramming attack - he is alive. The Police didn’t shoot him. In Palestinians cases it is death penalty without charge," tweeted an anonymous user. 

Figures within the Israeli political establishment are raising the alarm over the prospect of civil war, with the sight of Israeli attacks on fellow citizens in the streets appearing to cross a Rubicon. 

"This is the first time the government of Israel declared war on the people of Israel and on the state of Israel," Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Israeli Army radio on Monday. 

Olmert said he "supports the demonstration" scheduled to take place at Ben Gurion airport on Wednesday against Netanyahu’s planned judicial overhaul, and has endorsed non-violent civil disobedience. 

"This a serious threat that has never happened before and we are going into a civil war now," said the former PM.

The front pages of leading newspapers in #Israel 🇮🇱 were printed in black today to protest the judicial reform #protests pic.twitter.com/wvGcV9VYLJ

— 𝙰𝚒 𝙽𝚎𝚠𝚜 𝚁𝚎𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝 (@AiNewsRep) July 25, 2023

Two months the ruling extremist nationalist governing coalition delayed plans to make wholesale changes to the Israeli judiciary, pending a 'consultation period', the Knesset is now deciding on re-drafts of the initial bill. 

Israeli doctors began a 24-hour strike and black ads covered newspaper front pages on Tuesday in a furore over the hard-right government's ratification of initial judicial changes that has prompted concern for the independence of the courts and Palestinian rights.

A first bill curbing Supreme Court review of some government decisions passed in a stormy Knesset on Monday after a walkout by lawmakers who say long-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing Israel towards autocracy.