Thousands protest government reforms in Israel

Israel’s parliament on Monday debated a bill that would overhaul the country’s legal system. Nearly 100,000 protesters gathered outside Israel’s parliament waving flags and chanting “democracy.” The bill will go to its first reading on Wednesday or next Monday. It will need two more readings before it can be passed, which could be as soon as April. 

What will the reforms do? The bill would give the government and ruling coalition control of all judicial appointments and prohibit Israel’s Supreme Court from striking down certain kinds of laws. Critics say it would give too much power to parliament, weakening the judiciary. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there is an imbalance of power in favor of the judiciary. 

Dig deeper: Read Robert Nicholson’s review in WORLD Magazine of Walter Russell Mead’s book The Arc of a Covenant, which analyzes the relationship between Christian and Jewish Zionists and how it helped build Israel.