‘Only force works’: Israeli right wing call on Netanyahu to go further

▶ About 200,000 hardline protesters back legal reform and security policies

“I need you – we need everyone to come to Jerusalem so a clear voice in favour of the reform will be heard,” Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin told supporters in Jerusalem.

He stood amid a sea of Israeli flags in the government district last week, lauding “the referendum six months ago”.

By “referendum”, he was referring to the elections that swept Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government – the most right wing in Israel’s history – into power.

At the end of last week, about 200,000 people from across the country showed the government could pull together the same support that anti-reform protesters have amassed in weekly demonstrations since December.

Until now, large protests throughout Israel focused on what demonstrators viewed as the coalition government’s potentially fatal attacks on democratic institutions.

But government supporters, many of whom travelled for hours on bus convoys to reach Jerusalem, were less single-minded in their reason for turning up.

Yehuda, a student at a religious school, told The National that he felt young people “should vote for the judicial reforms because we’re the next generation of Israelis”.

But the reforms were only a small part of what he and his friends wanted to advocate.

Much more attention was given to safety concerns.

“Young Israelis are more right wing than the older generation because of security,” he said.

“We tried to give land back to the Arabs and it didn’t work. Only force works.”

An older bystander butted in to say “but we don’t hate Arabs”. Yehuda agreed.

Yoram, a teacher, was angry at the Supreme Court but more because of its policies than its position in Israel’s politics.

“The families of terrorists here in Israel – who shoot at us, massacre us and kill us – receive national insurance and therefore permit themselves to continue executing terrorist attacks,” he said.

“If the Supreme Court would only decide, as the people so want, that these families will not receive any such benefits, the terror will stop.”

Ayala, who works in a music school, voted for hardline Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has advocated a total annexation of the occupied West Bank, which is home to about three million Palestinians.

“I don’t think that this has anything to do with Arabs,” she said.

“This is about Jewish racism towards other Jews.”

In her mind, politicians including Mr Ben-Gvir represent a chance for racial justice.

“I really felt like Ben-Gvir is a man of truth. He’s there for us,” she said.

Ayala’s family are Mizrahi, Jews who came to Israel from across the Middle East and North Africa.

She emphasised her closer connection to Arabs than to European Ashkenazi Jews, who she said built Israel’s institutions while Jews from other part of the world “carried the stones”.

“My family loves [Egyptian singer] Umm Kulthum. She’s part of our culture, unlike the western Jews,” she said.

Her response to a question about the proposed judicial overhaul was simple: “This protest has nothing to do with the legal reforms.”

Meir, a Talmudic student, disagreed

The decisions are always left or radical left ones and always against the Israeli parliament, which is chosen by the people MEIR

Talmudic student

with that assessment. He described the Supreme Court as “a very closed clique that expresses on the views of a very small sector in Israel’s public – the progressive and radical left”.

He grew up in the US and believes the system in that country – in which Supreme Court judges are politically appointed – is a lot fairer.

“Israel is the only place besides Turkey and Iran where the judges vote which judges come in,” he said.

“Nowhere in the western countries does the same happen. You can see it statistically.

“The decisions are always left or radical left ones and always against the Israeli parliament, which is chosen by the people.”

Meir was the only person who spoke at length about the judicial overhaul.

However varied the reasons for joining the protests were, there was still a uniform belief that the legal system would soon have to change.