The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Netanyahu denounces protesters after salon siege of his wife
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies on Thursday denounced protesters as “anarchists” after they massed outside a Tel Aviv salon where his wife was getting her hair done — a chaotic end to a day of demonstrations against the government's plan to overhaul the judiciary.
Sara Netanyahu has long been a polarizing figure in Israel, and the incident late Wednesday in a posh neighborhood in Tel Aviv reflected Israel's emotionally charged divide over the overhaul, seen by opponents as an existential threat to the country. Demonstrators outside the salon chanted, “shame, shame” — but did not try to force their way inside. Hundreds of police were sent to the scene and eventually escorted her into a limousine.
In a post on Instagram, Sara Netanyahu thanked the police for helping her and thanked the public for what she said was an outpouring of support.
“Yesterday's incident could have ended with murder,” she said. She called on opposition leaders to condemn “the violence, anarchy and incitement.”
Meanwhile, Netanyahu and his political partners showed no signs of easing up on a push to pass a series of bills to overhaul Israel's judiciary. These moves have further inflamed an already deeply riven country and drawn the largest protests in over a decade.
Protest organizers held a small demonstration outside Netanyahu's office on Thursday, with some 200 people, most of them army veterans, joining former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni a day after their self-proclaimed “day of disruption” turned violent when police used a heavy hand against participants at a Tel Aviv rally.
Thursday's demonstrations in Jerusalem are expected to include speeches by former government ministers and senior security officials. Former top economists, including two former Bank of Israel heads and a Nobel Prize laureate, were set to speak at a conference in Tel Aviv about the economic fallout from the overhaul.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin, one of the architects of the judicial overhaul, said Wednesday night that despite the mounting public outcry, Netanyahu's government “will not stop the legislation.”
The proposed bills would give politicians and parliament control over judicial appointments, the power to overrule the Supreme Court and the ability to pass laws impervious to judicial review.
Critics of the plan include a growing number of former military brass, academics, economists and business leaders. They say the changes will erode the country's delicate system of checks and balances and erode democratic institutions. Netanyahu and his ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox allies say the changes are necessary to rein in the power of unelected judges.