Thousands-strong protests against Israel’s extremist cabinet drag into 26th week

Tens of thousands of demonstrators have once again taken to the streets in Tel Aviv in protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right cabinet and its extremist policies.

The protest took place on Saturday for the 26th straight week, with angry protesters holding up a banner with Netanyahu's picture that referred to him as "persona non grata."

The protesters also brandished a placard that read, "Let criminals appoint judges - what can possibly go wrong?" It was a sarcastic jab at a clause in the premier's so-called judicial overhaul plan that enables the regime's politicians to intervene in the process of selecting the Supreme Court's judges.

"Netanyahu has shown that he has no desire to compromise or to get into understanding with the rest of the people .... We're going to stop him, we're very determined. 26 weeks in a row that we've been able to do it, we believe that we'll be able to do it coming forward," a spokesperson for a protest group calling itself Kaplan Force was quoted by Reuters as saying 

Netanyahu announced the overhaul scheme in January after returning to power at the head of a coalition of hard-right and ultra-Orthodox parties.

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, however, say upon ratification, the plan would empower the ruling class to act in a more authoritarian fashion.

Thousands of protesters slam Israeli cabinet’s extremist policies for 25th straight week

Tens of thousands protest in Tel Aviv against the extremist policies of Israeli prime minister

Faced with raging protests as well as a wave of nationwide 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.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, Netanyahu claimed he had dropped that part of his controversial and unpopular plan, which sought to grant the regime's parliament the authority to overturn the court's rulings. The premier added, however, that he was still pursuing changes to the way judges were selected to the court.

Pro-Netanyahu lawmakers have indicated that the new bill would be a far softer version of previous proposals that sought to almost totally roll back the Supreme Court's power to rule against the executive. The opposition, however, says the new bill would still open the door to corruption.

The regime's attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, has accused Netanyahu of acting "illegally" in championing the reforms. She noted that the prime minister is trying to push on with the plan due to his long-running corruption trial in which he is accused of fraud and breach of trust.

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