Thousands of Israelis Protest Against Judicial Reform in Tel Aviv

TEL AVIV (Sputnik) - Thousands of Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Sunday for the 37th week of protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reform, following a Supreme Court hearing against interfering with the country's fundamental laws, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

The symbol of the protest in Tel Aviv was the 1948 Israeli Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed the establishment of the country and set out the basic principles of its existence as a democratic Jewish state.

The demonstrators marched from Rothschild Boulevard to Kaplan Street with a huge copy of the document. Some of the protesters headed to the Ben Gurion Airport, from where Netanyahu is scheduled to depart to the United States later in the day.

On September 12, the Israeli Supreme Court started considering petitions against the reform approved by the Israeli parliament in July, which limits the power of the court to overturn government decisions by declaring them unreasonable. The reform was approved under the opposition's boycott and amid months-long nationwide protests.

The legal reform amended one of Israel’s basic laws which form the basis of its future constitution. If scrapped, it would be the first such intervention by the Supreme Court in the history of the Jewish state and could plunge it into an even deeper constitutional crisis.

The supporters of the reform claim that it is a necessary step to enable a democratically elected government to pursue policies to the benefit of the majority of the Israeli citizens. Their opponents argue that it would make it harder for the Supreme Court to intervene when elected officials make arbitrary, extreme or corrupt decisions.