So it turns out that a huge number of voters actually do understand that it’s essential for a functioning democracy to have a fair and uncompromised judiciary, even when the rules needed to make that happen tends to be arcane and unsexy. They finally get it ... in Israel.
Incredible scenes have been witnessed in the streets of Tel Aviv, where last weekend a record throng of as many as 160,000 protesters packed every inch of the main thoroughfares downtown to voice their extreme displeasure with proposed changes by the increasingly far-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Coupled with protests in other Israeli cities, it’s been estimated that the rate of citizens protesting in the Middle Eastern nation is the equivalent of 8.6 million Americans taking to the streets, or about three times the size of the 2017 Women’s March.
And the protesters are so outraged over the Netanyahu-backed changes — which would restrict the ability of Israel’s Supreme Court to strike down legislation or overrule the executive branch — that they vow to be back every week, even as government forces respond with water cannons or other more forceful measures. “I hope that this huge demonstration will effect and prove that we are not going to give up,” 53-year-old history teacher Ronen Cohen told Reuters.
