Thousands of Israelis protested in front of Israeli’s Knesset against the proposed judicial reforms by the Netanyahu government which would give the majority party in the Knesset authority for appointing all of the country’s judges and would also take away the Israel Supreme Court’s authority to review the legality of major pieces of legislation. Netanyahu and his supporters contend that the proposed changes are needed to limit the judiciary which they say wields too much power. Critics say that the reforms undermines Israel’s democracy and the country’s system of checks and balances, and is also a conflict of interest for Netanyahu while he is on trial for various corruption charges.
