An enormous rally with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators called the 'Million March,' was held in front of the Knesset this evening (Thursday) in support of the government's planned judicial reforms.
Over 1,000 buses are bringing citizens from all over the country to participate in the demonstration.
Police said that crowds at the demonstration at first reached 200,000 people.Later, as more and more people arrived, and it was almost impossible to get through the crowds that poured in, filling all the streets around the Knesset, the organizers estimated close to 600,000 people.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Knesset Constitution Committee chairman MK Simcha Rothman, the architects of the judicial reform legislation, addressed the demonstrators, as did numerous other politicians. Speakers included Nobel Laureate Prof.Israel Aumann, the head of the student union of Israeli universities, Caroline Glick, popular publicist and media personaiity Noam Fathi, Professor Gadi Taub and others.
Demonstration organizer Berele Crombie stated that "the purpose of the demonstrations is to remind and demand from our elected officials in the government and the coalition that the people want judicial reform, that the people are behind them, that the people give them strength."
MK Avichay Buaron, another initiator of the rally, said: "An entire camp cannot live with the knowledge that they are worth less. If there is no reform - that means that our votes at the voting booth are not worth anything. We are the majority at the voting booths, but we can't really run the country. This reality must change. The nationalist camp is also allowed to have a share in managing the country's issues. We are sick of being second-class citizens."
"We are sick of every decision that the government makes and which is for the benefit of soldiers or settlers or residents of south Tel Aviv - the Supreme Court is the one which decides whether it is a reasonable decision or not, and on the way invalidates it or the law which benefits these populations. We will not stop the protests, and we will only increase them until the million-person protest in which we tell the President, to the court, and to the opposition: No more! After 75 years from the State of Israel's establishment have passed, the people of Israel will be set free and Israel will embark on a new path. It's time," he said.