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Protests in Israel and its impacts

 What are the changes that are going to happen?

In short, the proposed judicial overhaul will severely limit Israeli Supreme Court's ability to review and strike down that it deems unconstitutional. 

There are four main clause :-

1. Allowing the Knesset to override Supreme Court decisions with a simple majority of 61 out 120 seats, as right now the court can block any law it deems unconstitutional.

2. Removing the Supreme Court's ability to judge Knesset legislation and other government decisions for "reasonability", this principle was exercised in Court's recent decision to rule one of Netanyahu's ministerial appointment as "highly unreasonable" because of past criminal convictions.

3. Giving the most control over appointment judges to the ruling coalition, rather than to a current set of committee of legal experts and representatives.

4. Allowing ministers to appoint their legal advisors, and taking away authority of the latter to make binding decisions.

This seeks to amend the Basic Law and would cement the government control over the judicial appointment and revoke the court's ability to review Basic Laws. Since Israel does not have a written constitution and is governed by there laws, the separation of power between the legislative and executive branches of government remains weak. Netanyahu and his justice minister Yariv Levin say that the changes are needed to prevent the Supreme Court which is unelected from overly intervening in the cabinet and Knesset decision making. This bills are backed by Netanyahu as he himself is currently under investigation on numerous counts of corruption and other charges, so he would benefit form a weaker judiciary. The Israeli judiciary has a reputation for its fierce independence. Right now there is nine members committee that select judges, it includes Minister of Justice and another minister, the Supreme Court President and two judges, two Knesset member and two representatives of the bar. But under the new proposal, government nominated members would be in a 7-4 majority in an expanded committee. Although the bill must pass though several stages of discussion and four rounds of voting, the government is confident its majority will allow it to push them through.


Economic Impact      

The crisis is now extended to Israel's economic future and has already hit equities and the national currency, with the Tel Aviv stock Exchange's benchmark TA-125 index down nearly 4% last week. Zvi Eckstein, a former deputy governor of the Bank of Israel, explained the risk this could post to the country's crucial technology sector. "Israel's economy is very unusual -17% of Israeli production, 11% of the labor force, are engaged in research and development activity in the high tech sector ", Eckstein said. "All of this is financed by venture capital that comes from abroad, almost 90% of it". Investors, and the global economy as a whole, seek not only stability, but often are drawn to countries with Independence institutions such as Judiciary and a strong central bank. 


The Protests

For more than two months, liberal Israelis and opponents of Netanyahu turned out every Saturday to protest against what they saw as the unravelling of the country's democratic project. Early this month, as some bills moved through the first stage, huge numbers of Israelis registered their protest on the "day of national disruption",


 chanting "Democracy, Democracy". Protesters clashed with Police who used stun grenades and water cannons. An estimate of 160,000 protestors took to the streets of Tel Aviv over the weekend, with tens of thousands more gathering in other cities to demonstrate.


What happened on Thursday?

On Thursday, the Israeli Parliament passed the first of several laws that make up the contentious judicial overhaul. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition approved legislation that would protect the Israeli Leaders from being deemed unfit to rule because of his corruption trial. The legal changes have split the nation between those who see the new policies as stripping Israel of of its democratic ideals. The law passed in an early morning vote 61-47 in Israel's 120 seat Knesset. Even the country's military, seen as a beacon of stability by Israel's Jewish majority, is enmeshed in the political conflict, as some reservists are refusing to show up for duty over changes.  

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