Protesters gather in Jerusalem, Israel
Credit: © UPI/Alamy Images

Protests across Israel have led to a delay in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to reform the country’s judicial system. Leaders in various sectors, including the military, called for Netanyahu to stop the reform after the protests led to airport, hospital, and school closures. The sea of blue and white flags carried by determined protestors succeeded in pausing the reform this week. Israel’s Supreme Court and judicial checks and balances will remain strong at least until May.

Netanyahu, a Likud Party politician, became prime minister of Israel in December 2022. Likud is a conservative political party in Israel. Netanyahu held the position before from 1996 to 1999 and 2009 to 2021. In November 2019, Israel’s attorney general announced criminal charges against Netanyahu for alleged fraud, bribery, and breach of trust. Netanyahu denied any wrongdoing. Despite facing criminal charges in 2020, Netanyahu remained in power in a unity government with his opponent, Benny Gantz of the moderate Blue and White Party, as an alternate prime minister.

In March 2021, Netanyahu’s Likud Party failed to win a parliamentary majority. Netanyahu became the new opposition party leader. However, in the elections in November 2022, Netanyahu won the most seats in the Knesset (Israeli parliament). Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, asked Netanyahu to form a new government. Netanyahu formed a coalition government with a number of right-wing parties, including the far-right Religious Zionism party.

Shortly after donning the title of prime minister again, Netanyahu proposed the judicial reform plan. On January 4th, Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced the plans. The plan gives the government more control over appointing Supreme Court judges and would allow Netanyahu to escape the corruption charges against him. The plan also limits the power of the Supreme Court. The reform eliminates one of the few checks on parliament in Israel, allowing them to override decisions made by the Supreme Court.

Protests first broke out across Israel on January 7th. On January 14th, officials estimate nearly 80,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv, with protests occurring in other cities. Weekly protests continued and received international attention. United States  Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel on January 28th, meeting Netanyahu.

Leaders in the Constitution committee voted on February 13th, on the judicial reform as workers in several industries went on strike opposing the plan. Nearly 100,000 protesters gathered in Jerusalem during the vote. The Consitution committee voted in favor of the judicial reform plan 9 to 7.

Demonstrations continued through March, with more than 630,000 people gathering on March 25th, in the largest protest in the country’s history. On that same day, Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant called for postponing the judicial overhaul stating the turmoil was a threat to the country’s national security. He was the first minister to break from the coalition and call for a pause. Gallant mentioned the plan should pause so the country could celebrate Passover and Independence Day in peace. The next day, Gallant was removed from his position, sparking more protests that blocked major highways and started fires.

Due to the extent of the protests, hospitals stopped non-emergency care, schools closed, and all flights in and out of the main airport were grounded. Banks and malls were shuttered as the country shut down. On March 27th, Israeli President Isaac Herzog called for Netanyahu to stop the legislative process. Netanyahu agreed to delay the reform until the next Knesset session in a month.

The opposition to the plan worked because it united key figures in the military, universities, and unions. Fighter pilots in the military refused a day of training in early March, leading military leaders to call for a solution to the crisis. The country’s military reserves dropped in numbers as the protests progressed, leading military leaders to suggest scaling back operations.

If Netanyahu pivots from his plan, he could lose his slim majority in Parliament, which could lead to Israel’s sixth election since 2019. If he reignites the battle to approve the judicial reform legislation, protests could continue further dividing the country.

March 4, 2015

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke to a joint session of the U.S. Congress concerning foreign policy with Iran. The speech was a breach with usual protocol, as House Leader John Boehner invited Netanyahu to address Congress without consulting with U.S. President Barack Obama. Netanyahu’s speech, just two weeks before he is up for re-election, openly criticized Obama’s Iran initiative concerning nuclear development in that nation. Some 50 Democratic members of Congress refused to attend the speech.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference in Washington, Monday, March 2, 2015. Credit: AP Photo

The disagreement centered on more than just politics and protocol. President Obama—along with European allies, Russia, and China—is trying to persuade the government of Iran to agree to a pact to limit their nuclear holdings. The agreement specified the number of centrifuges Iran was allowed and called for Iran to permit international inspections of its nuclear sites. Should Iran exceed the number of centrifuges or refuse to cooperate with international inspectors, the governments urging the pact believe there would be enough time for them to act before Iran was able to build a bomb.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has stated that Iran has a history of duplicity concerning pacts and agreements and of making statements threatening the state of Israel. Netanyahu argues that Iran should be allowed no centrifuges or nuclear material. As Iran is unlikely to agree to such terms, however, international inspections of sites would be impossible. The current pact negotiated by Obama may be the best of several less-than-perfect options.

Other World Book articles:

• Iran (2009-a Back in Time article)
• Iran (2010-a Back in time article)
• Iran (2011-a Back in time article)
• Iran (2012-a Back in time article)
• Iran (2013-a Back in time article)
• Israel (2013-a Back in Time article)
• Nuclear energy
• Nuclear weapon

January 22, 2015

Speaker of the House of Representatives John A. Boehner yesterday invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before a joint session of Congress on February 11. Political analysts suggested that the invitation, which Netanyahu accepted, is part of a growing showdown between Republicans and President Barack Obama over proposals to tighten sanctions against Iran. Iran, the United States, and other world powers are in negotiations over possible controls and monitoring of Iran’s nuclear program, including levels of uranium enrichment. Despite these talks, Israel, according to a number of military experts, is preparing for air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

In his State of the Union address to Congress on January 20, President Obama appealed to the Republican-controlled House and Senate to hold off on any additional sanctions against Iran while diplomatic talks continue over possible ways to limit Iran’s nuclear program. [New sanctions] “will all but guarantee that diplomacy fails, alienating America from its allies and ensuring that Iran starts up its nuclear program again,” the president stated in his address.

Speaking to Republican lawmakers yesterday, Boehner noted that he hoped Netanyahu would speak on the threat radical Islam and Iran pose to U.S. security. “He [President Obama] expects us to stand idly by and do nothing while he cuts a bad deal with Iran,” said Boehner.

Today, a White House spokesperson informed the media that President Obama would not meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu upon his arrival in February.

Additional World Book article:

• Nuclear weapon

November 18, 2014

Two men armed with a pistol and meat cleavers attacked Orthodox Jews in a synagogue in West Jerusalem this morning. Four rabbis were killed and eight others injured before police shot and killed the Palestinian attackers. Three of the four victims were United States citizens. The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem are at a fever pitch. Six people–including a baby, a soldier and a border police officer–have been killed in recent weeks in violence connected to the revival of an ancient dispute over rights of worship at a site within the walls of the Old City.

The areas in Jerusalem under contention are in the Old City. (World Book map)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly refused to lift restrictions on Jews praying at the Jerusalem site known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount. The site, which Muslims regard as sacred, includes the al-Aqsa Mosque compound and the Dome of the Rock. Pushing back against right-wing Cabinet ministers and members of the Knesset, Netanyahu insisted that there will be no change in the status quo regarding the historic site of the ancient Jewish First and Second Temples. (The First Temple, built by Solomon, was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II after the Siege of Jerusalem of 587 B.C.; the Second Temple, built by Herod the Great, was destroyed by the Roman Emperor Titus in A.D. 70.)

Under longstanding arrangements for the site’s administration, Jews and Christians are allowed to visit but not to pray. Demands by Jewish extremists for greater access to the site are blamed by both Israelis and Palestinians for the upswing in violent confrontations. As a security measure, Israeli police currently bar male Muslim worshipers under the age of 50 from entering the compound.

July 7, 2014

Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip continue to escalate. The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas declared today that Israel will “pay a tremendous price” for the deaths of eight Palestinian militants who were killed overnight in Israeli rocket attacks on Gaza. The Israeli military responded that it had only hit “terror sites and concealed rocket launchers” in response to rocket and mortar fire from Gaza into Israel.

On July 2, a Palestinian boy was murdered in an apparent reprisal for the murder of three Israeli teenage boys, whose bodies were found in the West Bank on June 30. An autopsy revealed that the Palestinian boy, Mohammad Abu Khieder, was burned alive, setting off public outcry in both the West Bank and Gaza as well as in Israel.

Israeli police have arrested six Jewish suspects in connection with the murder of Palestinian boy. Three of the suspects have confessed to abducting him from outside his home and killing him in an act of revenge.

A series of murders of teenage boys, both Israeli and Palestinian, has roiled relations between Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. (World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today issued a statement about the murder of the Palestinian youth: “We acted immediately to apprehend the murderers. We will bring them to trial and they will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.” The murderers of the three Israeli boys remain unapprehended.

Additional World Book article:

• Middle East 2007 (a Back in Time article)

November 19, 2012

At least 95 Palestinians and 3 Israelis have been killed in six days of attack and counterattack between Israel and Gaza. The latest casualty is a Hamas military commander, who was killed today in a strike on a building housing media workers. According to Israeli Defense Forces, air strikes have been carried out on some 80 strategic sites in Gaza in the last 12 hours, bringing the total to 1,350 strikes on targeted sites since the violence began on November 14.

Khaled Meshaal, the political leader of Hamas, the Islamist organization that controls Gaza, has issued a statement that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested a cease-fire. But Merhaal contended that it is up to Israel to stop the offensive, which he claims Israel started. The Netanyahu government denies asking for a cease-fire and denies starting the violence. There is little doubt that the conflict was ignited from Gaza. Hamas and various other terrorist groups have fired hundreds of rockets into Israel just this year before Israel counter attacked.

Palestinian Hamas supporters celebrate in the Gaza Strip after Hamas, a radical Islamic organization and political party, wins a majority of seats in the 2006 Palestinian Authority legislative elections. Many of the supporters wear green, the color of Hamas and the traditional color of Islam. (© Mohammed Abed, AFP/Getty Images)

Israel has some 30,000 troops massed at the border. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has declared that there will be “serious repercussions” if Israel were to launch a ground invasion into Gaza. Morsi is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is an offshoot.

Additional World Book articles:

• Egypt 2011 (a Back in Time article)
• The Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
• A Special Day in Israel (a special report)