Protesters Block Highways in Israel Over Controversial New Judicial Laws

Israeli demonstrators invaded the stock exchange and blocked highways in a "Day of Disruption" on Tuesday as lawmakers prepared to ratify a controversial judicial bill pushed by embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A planned package of changes to the judiciary, framed by Netanyahu’s opponents as a naked move to curb judicial independence, has driven a months-long constitutional crisis in Israel.

“We are here to say to Israel's government: The more you press, the harder we resist," Jonathan Eran Kali, a 62-year-old retired tech worker, told Reuters outside the Habimah Theatre in Tel Aviv. "We are saying no to dictatorship."

But Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition holds a comfortable majority in the Knesset and, while the protests have slowed the judicial laws, massive protests haven’t stopped them.

The demonstrators were "a vocal few, inflated by the media," Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said. The reforms, he said, would proceed in "measured steps while continuing to call for broad consensus."

The proposed laws would hand lawmakers more control over the appointment of judges and give parliament the power to overturn high court decisions and to pass laws immune to judicial review.

Dozens of protesters poured into the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on Tuesday, where they tossed fake banknotes into the air to symbolize corruption.

Thousands more filled the streets of cities across the country, blocking several highways. One woman was injured after she was struck by a car.

At least 19 people were arrested. 

A group of military reservists tried to block the entrance to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in Tel Aviv, and some reservists said they would ignore mobilization orders. 

"Whoever is currently advocating non-attendance harms the IDF and also harms national security,"  Herzi Halevi, a top general, told a Knesset committee.

Despite delaying tactics by the opposition, a coalition bill that would limit the Supreme Court's power to overturn government decisions or appointments was set for a final vote on Sunday. 

Opponents of the law say Netanyahu has a conflict of interest due to his ongoing trial on charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes.