Israelis back on streets after Netanyahu rejects reforms compromise, president warns of civil strife

Israeli protesters returned to the streets Thursday to rally against proposed judicial reforms, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a compromise plan touted by the country's president, who warned of the country slipping into civil strife.

The reforms, several provisions of which have already been adopted by parliament, are "the end of democracy," read a placard brandished by demonstrators in Tel Aviv.

"I am afraid that we will become a religious state, that the laws of Judaism will come first and the democratic freedom that we have will not be there anymore," Liat Tzvi, a researcher at Tel Aviv University, told AFP.

Demonstrators blocked a key road in the coastal city, an AFP reported said.

Demonstrators also gathered in Jerusalem and the northern city of Haifa to denounce the overhaul that would, among other things, allow lawmakers to scrap supreme court rulings with a simple majority vote.

📝🇮🇱Hundreds of Israelis protest in Tel Aviv against govt judicial reform: Hundreds of Israeli protestors return to the streets of Tel Aviv to rally against proposed judicial reforms, after the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a compromise plan touted by pic.twitter.com/Uqn9cvzoQ7

— 🌐World News 24 🌍🌎🌏 (@DailyWorld24) March 16, 2023

Tel Aviv's Ayalon highway & Jerusalem's Begin Road— blocked by the protest. pic.twitter.com/MeWe2kTP2g

— Noga Tarnopolsky נגה טרנופולסקי نوغا ترنوبولسكي (@NTarnopolsky) March 16, 2023

Some opposition leaders have said they would attend another rally planned for Thursday evening in Tel Aviv.

Since Netanyahu's hard-right government announced the reforms in January, the month after taking office, massive demonstrations have regularly taken place across Israel.

Opponents of the package have also accused Netanyahu, who faces a string of corruption allegations which he denies, of trying to use the reforms to quash possible judgements against him.

President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday presented a proposed compromise on the reforms, but it was immediately rejected by the government.

"Anyone who thinks that a genuine civil war, with human lives, is a line that we could never reach, has no idea what he is talking about," Herzog said.

Netanyahu later told reporters: "As for the president's compromise, I think any attempt to reach an agreement and a dialogue is certainly welcome."

"But what the president is proposing has not been accepted by the representatives of the ruling coalition," he added shortly before departing for a state visit to Germany.

"Key points in his programme only perpetuate the existing situation and do not bring the required balance between the powers."