Mass Protests Continue Amid Netanyahu Attack on Courts
Israel announces more illegal settlements
HAVANA TIMES – In Israel, protesters are massing outside the Knesset in Jerusalem as the far-right ruling coalition advanced a plan to expand its power and weaken the judiciary. Over the weekend, tens of thousands demonstrated against the government for the fifth straight week, as President Isaac Herzog issued a rare warning.
President Isaac Herzog: “We are long past being in a political argument. Rather, we are on the brink of constitutional and social collapse. … I feel — we all feel — that we are barely a moment away from a collision, and even from a violent collision.”
This comes as Israel legalized nine illegal outposts in the occupied West Bank, turning them into settlements, in a move the Palestinian Authority likened to an “open war.” The Biden administration said it opposed the plan, though it’s not clear if it will take any action against Israel.
Meanwhile, on Friday, a Palestinian driver rammed a car into a crowd outside of Jerusalem, killing two Israeli children and one man. The next day, a Palestinian man was fatally shot by an Israeli settler in the northern West Bank, and Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teenager Sunday during a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin.