Far-right and racist coalition lawmakers passed an anti-democratic law on Thursday morning, March 27, increasing government political power and influence over the judicial appointments process in Israel, following a stormy overnight debate. It will need to survive a petition immediately filed against the law by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI).
“The universities in struggle”, academics and students’ demonstration in the streets of Tel-Aviv, Wednesday, March 26, 2025 (Photo: Tomer Neuberg / Flash 90)
The measure, which changes the composition of the committee that selects judges, passed almost completely unopposed after the opposition boycotted the final vote, walking out of the Knesset plenum in protest. Throughout the evening, lawmakers quashed an unprecedented 71,023 objections filed by the opposition before finally voting 67-1 in favor of the legislation in the third and final reading, passing it into law.
In a fascist speech, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back against his critics, insisting that the real danger, he claimed, is an unelected “deep state” working against the elected government.
The pressure the IDF will exert will be “more and more powerful,” and will include “seizing territory” and “doing other things” in Gaza he said at plenum on Wednesday. Netanyahu’s comments came during a debate on growing crime in the Arab-Palestinian community in Israel, known as the “40 Signatures Debate”, which is the Israeli version of the British “Prime Minister’s Questions”. The debate included a series of short speeches in the prime minister’s presence, after which the prime minister and opposition leader gave concluding speeches.
Hadash-Ta’al chairman MK Ayman Odeh opened the discussion by presenting a series of statistics. Odeh, quoting the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel, said that since Netanyahu took office, there were 14 times more homicides in the Arab sector than the Jewish state.
Until 2008, the ratio was 3:1. Just 14.8% of homicides in the Arab sector have been solved, compared to approximately 70% in the Jewish sector, and even those were “usually when the perpetrator turned himself in,” Odeh said. Odeh noted that the annual number of homicides had risen by 230% in five years, and 58 people have been killed since the beginning of 2025. Arab citizens were 18% of the population but suffered 80% of violent crime. According to Odeh, this was not a matter of fate but a matter of policy, and the fact that the prime minister appointed Otzma Yehudit chairman MK Itamar Ben-Gvir, who he called a “racist and fascist”, to the position of National Security Minister proved this. Odeh added that the fact that homicide rates were lower in the Palestinian Authority and Jordan showed that the problem was not a “cultural matter” but a result of failed and deliberate policy.
After the speech, in a joint statement, the heads of the Knesset opposition parties announce that going forward, they will fully coordinate their actions to combat the far-right government’s judicial overhaul agenda. “Following a joint discussion by the chairmen of the opposition factions, it was decided that the opposition will act with the full cooperation of all its members of the Knesset and will resolutely fight the judicial coup legislation led by the coalition,” the statement reads. “This government is undermining the foundations of democracy – and the entire opposition will stand like a wall against it, until every attempt to turn Israel into a dictatorship is stopped.”
For first time, the coordination of activity is not limited to the opposition’s Zionist factions, which often work together, but also includes Hadash-Ta’al parliamentary faction and Islamist Ra’am – United Arab List.
Tens of thousands of protestors gathered near the Knesset, during the debate at the plenum. Earlier, protesters against the ruling far-right coalition blocked the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Road, while several thousands of demonstrators participated in protests near Prime Minister Netanyahu’s private residence and at Tel Aviv University. Academics and students from Tel Aviv University joined the demonstrations and started a march in Tel Aviv to meet fellow demonstrators in Jerusalem. An organizer of the march called on students to join the protests against the war in Gaza and show solidarity with the hostages in Gaza.
Lecturers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem protested outside the Jerusalem residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that they are against the “destruction of democracy and solidarity,” and calling for an end to “the government of death and corruption.”
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32556
