Last-minute talks to find a compromise, led by the head of the Zionist regime, failed to stop Israel’s far-right regime, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, from pushing ahead with the vote, Aljazeera reported.
On Monday, police used water cannon against protesters who blocked the entrance of Knesset. Several arrests were also reported.
Under the judicial overhaul plan, Netanyahu seeks to give the regime’s extremist cabinet more influence in the process of selecting the Supreme Court’s judges, while seeking to empower the politicians and the Knesset to override the court’s rulings.
Netanyahu, who has recently undergone surgery to fit a pacemaker, vowed on Sunday to be in the Knesset for the vote.
“We’re continuing our efforts to complete the legislation, and the efforts to do it in agreement (with the opposition),” he said on Sunday afternoon, adding “Either way, I want you to know that tomorrow (Monday) morning I’m joining my friends at parliament.”
The past two days have seen similar anti-regime protests.
Netanyahu introduced the plan in January, triggering months of unprecedented anti-regime protests, with critics describing the plan as a threat to the independence of the courts by the prime minister, who is on trial on graft charges.
Those in favor of the scheme allege that it introduces some balance in the power that is wielded by the different branches of the regime. Its opponents, on the other side of the ledger, say upon ratification, the plan would empower the ruling class to act in a more authoritarian fashion.
Faced with raging protests as well as a wave of mass industrial actions in support of those protests, Netanyahu announced a pause in late March in his drive to get the plan approved by the Knesset.
The judicial overhaul plan originally sought to render the Supreme Court incapable of striking down politicians’ decisions.
RHM/PR