Hundreds of thousands of Israelis turned out Thursday evening in Jerusalem to march in support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reforms, in answer to similar protests by the opposition in Tel Aviv.
Right-wing Israelis attend a rally in support of plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to overhaul the judicial system, outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament in Jerusalem, Thursday, April 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
For weeks, left-wing protesters have mounted demonstrations — and blocked traffic — to raise objections to the reforms, though most are well within the norms of democratic practice in other countries, including the U.S.
Their protests have earned international attention, adding to pressure on the government. President Joe Biden has said he will not meet with Netanyahu, the country’s democratically-elected leader, because of the reforms.
On Thursday, however, the country’s normally quiescent right-wing voters — who prefers to raise their voices in the ballot box, rather than on the streets — turned out for what was billed as a “million-person march.”
JERUSALEM – APRIL 27: Far right party supporters, hold Israeli flags, gather to demonstration of support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu near the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem on April 27, 2023. (Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
JERUSALEM – APRIL 27: Far right party supporters, hold Israeli flags, gather to demonstration of support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu near the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem on April 27, 2023. (Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Right-wing Israelis attend a rally in support of plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to overhaul the judicial system, outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament in Jerusalem, Thursday, April 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Estimates of the actual size of the rally have varied, from 200,000 to 600,000. Nevertheless, it was a strong show of force from Netanyahu’s supporters, who have felt overlooked by the media and the political class.
I am not naturally inclined to mass events. But the Tel Aviv protests lead some to think that while the right mighty have greater electoral #s, the left has greater preference intensity.
The hundreds of thousand from across Israel tonight really really demonstrated the opposite pic.twitter.com/1cInqRVrZ6— Eugene Kontorovich (@EVKontorovich) April 27, 2023
As Eliot Kaufman noted this week in the Wall Street Journal, Israel has become more politically conservative over the 75 years of its history, but the judicial has remained staunchly leftist, producing the tensions today.
Though the country was considered to be on the precipice of internal conflict a few weeks ago, conservative author David Hazony, writing in the Jewish Journal, suggested there is hope for a new constitutional accord.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.