Israeli doctors walk off the job and more strikes are threatened after law weakening courts passes
The IndependentSign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thousands of Israeli doctors walked out of work, labor leaders threatened a general strike and senior justices rushed home from a trip abroad Tuesday, a day after the government approved a law weakening the country's supreme court that critics say will erode the system of checks and balances. The only words on the pages were in a line at the bottom: “A black day for Israeli democracy.” Monday's vote — on the first of a series of measures that make up Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s divisive judicial overhaul — reverberated across the country. The bill was unanimously passed by the governing coalition, which includes ultra-nationalist and ultra-religious parties, after the opposition stormed out of the hall shouting “Shame!” But opponents say they are not done fighting it: Civil rights groups submitted petitions to the Supreme Court, calling for the new law to be overturned, and protests roiled the country's streets overnight. The judicial overhaul, in deepening Israel’s social and religious divisions, has laid bare “a struggle for Israel’s basic values,” said Israeli historian Tom Segev.
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Israel’s contentious legal overhaul comes to a head as judges hear cases on their own fate
Associated Press
Torn between protests and judicial reforms, Israel seeks a way forward
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