The organizers of the demonstrations against the judicial reform have announced that next Monday they will hold, for the second week in a row, a demonstration outside the Knesset and that thousands will skip work in protest of the votes on the laws associated with the reform that are scheduled to be held in the Knesset during that time.
The organizers of the protest said in a statement on Wednesday that "Levin and Rothman continue to rush with the legislation that will turn Israel into a dictatorship. We repeat our call to the leaders of the opposition not to enter into any discussion until all legislative initiatives are completely withdrawn. There will be no public legitimacy for this type of move."
In addition to the demonstration on Monday and on Saturday night, as has been the case every week, a demonstration is also planned for Thursday outside the Prime Minister's residence on Azza Street in Jerusalem.
"With the galloping towards a dictatorship, we are forced to expand the civil resistance to the coup d'état. It is in the hands of every citizen to fight for the State of Israel. We are at the most critical moment for the State of Israel, we will not bow down in the face of spins, but will expand the fight," the organizers of the demonstration declared.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, the coalition announced that a planned vote on a key element of the Netanyahu government’s judicial reform plan has been cancelled.
Following a debate earlier this week by the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, the Knesset plenum had been scheduled to vote on the Override Clause, an amendment to the country’s Basic Laws which would explicitly empower the Knesset to veto Supreme Court rulings overturning Knesset laws.
In addition to the Override Clause bill, the coalition also cancelled a vote planned for Wednesday on legislation aimed at allowing former Interior Minister Aryeh Deri to be appointed back to the government, after the Supreme Court overturned his appointment last month.
Coalition chairman Ofir Katz (Likud) said the decision to nix the planned votes was made in response to the request by President Isaac Herzog, in order to foster goodwill between the coalition and the opposition and in the hopes of facilitating talks towards a compromise.
United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni reportedly left the Knesset building on Wednesday evening in protest over the fact that the coalition removed the Override Clause bill from the Knesset agenda.