World News | Israelis protest judicial reform despite surge in violence

TEL AVIV, April 8 (AP) Thousands of Israelis gathered Saturday for their weekly demonstration against the government’s controversial judicial reform plans despite security concerns over a surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shelved his reform plan after mass protests against the plan, which has brought large swaths of Israeli society together against a series of bills aimed at weakening the country’s supreme court.

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The main protest in Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial hub, came less than two kilometers (one mile) from Friday’s attack, in which an Italian tourist was killed and five other Italian and foreign tourists were killed when a car rammed into a group of tourists. British citizens were injured.

In another incident, two British-Israeli women were shot dead near a settlement in the occupied West Bank.

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Violence in Israel and the West Bank has heightened fears of an even stronger surge as Muslim Ramadan, the Jewish holiday of Passover and Easter are currently underway.

Leaders of a grassroots protest movement opposed to judicial reform called for the weekly mass protests to continue as planned Saturday, drawing tens of thousands of people for a 14th straight week.

They portrayed the anti-government demonstrations as a rally in solidarity with those killed and injured in Friday’s attack, as well as with Israelis living near the Lebanese and Gaza borders affected by recent Palestinian rocket attacks.

In Tel Aviv, protesters observed a moment of silence for the victims.

Protest organizers argue that the reform plan has undermined Israel’s national security by disrupting the military and weakening the state in the eyes of its enemies.

Netanyahu’s announcement to delay a proposed overhaul of Israel’s legal system appeared to ease some of the tensions that had fueled three months of unrest.

But his statement failed to address the underlying problems that polarized the country, and he vowed to restart the program in the coming weeks if compromise talks with political opposition failed.

The plan would give Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, and his allies the final say in the appointment of national judges.

It would also give the parliament, controlled by his allies, the power to overturn Supreme Court rulings and limit the court’s ability to review laws.

Supporters of Netanyahu say the plan is necessary to rein in the power of unelected judges.

Opponents say it concentrates power in the hands of Netanyahu and his allies in parliament, undermining the system of checks and balances.

They also say Netanyahu, who is indicted on corruption charges, has a conflict of interest during his trial. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)