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Netanyahu vows more active role in Israel’s judiciary fight following a day of tense protests
(JTA) — After a day of raucous protests, arrests and clashes in the street protesting the Israeli government’s controversial judicial overhaul, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a televised speech encouraging Israeli unity, pledging to protect minority rights — and vowing that the first major piece of the overhaul plan would still pass next week.
Netanyahu’s speech followed a “National Day of Paralysis” Thursday, in which protesters amassed in large cities across Israel, where they blocked major roads and were met with mounted police and water cannons, as they have at previous protests.
More than 100 protesters were arrested, including Shikma Schwartzman-Bressler, a physicist who is one of the leaders of the protest movement, according to video posted by Israeli journalist Tal Schneider. Another video shared by Schneider showed a former cabinet member and Labor Party politician, Omer Bar-Lev, getting pushed by police at a protest. Demonstrations stretched into the night following Netanyahu’s speech, as well.
Netanyahu’s address, which took a more conciliatory tone than previous remarks he’s made on the subject, followed reports of dissent within his own party, and following a morning in which his government passed the first of several laws that would limit the power of the Supreme Court. The one approved Thursday specifically bars the court from forcing the prime minister into taking a leave of absence.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen during a discussion and a vote in the assembly hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, March 22, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
“Opponents of the reform are not traitors and supporters of the reform are not fascists,” he said. “The vast majority of Israeli citizens, across the political spectrum, love our country, and want to protect our democracy. … I am working to reach a solution. I am attentive to the claims of the other side.”
He added, “We intend, and I intend, to anchor individual rights in law. We will ensure the basic rights of all citizens of Israel: Jews and non-Jews, secular and religious, women, LGBT, everyone — without exception. … We intend to propose clear legislation clear on this subject. I will personally make sure that that happens.”
But Netanyahu defended the overhaul plan as “a strengthening of democracy” that brings Israel’s judicial system in line with the legal systems of democracies such as the United States. He cited remarks by Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz, who has opposed parts of the overhaul plan but said recently that it will not turn Israel “into an autocratic country.”
Netanyahu said his government would still bring the first major piece of the legislation — which gives the coalition control over two Supreme Court appointments per term — to the floor of parliament next week as planned.
“In all the democracies, including the United States, elected officials are those who choose judges,” Netanyahu said. “Is the United States not a democracy? Is New Zealand not a democracy? Is Canada not a democracy?”
(Several critics of Netanyahu’s plan say that the United States’ system is different and has protections and checks and balances that Israel’s governmental system lacks.)
Israelis face off during a protest against the Israeli government’s planned judicial overhaul, in Bnei Brak, March 23, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
The protests — which included a demonstration in Bnai Brak, a haredi Orthodox city — came shortly after Israel’s government passed the first piece of a string of legislation aimed at significantly limiting the power of Israel’s Supreme Court. The law, which insulates Netanyahu from court-ordered restrictions related to his ongoing trial for corruption, was approved by a bare majority of lawmakers at 6 a.m. on Thursday after a night of fierce debate.
It bars the Supreme Court from ordering a prime minister to take a leave of absence, and says that a prime minister can be removed only if he or she is physically or mentally incapacitated, and only if 75% of government ministers or Knesset lawmakers approve of the decision.
The change appears to open the door for Netanyahu to play a more assertive role in the fight over the broader package of judicial reform bills, which would sap the Supreme Court of much of its power and independence. Israel’s attorney general had ordered Netanyahu to constrain his involvement in the debate over the overhaul because of a conflict of interest related to his ongoing trial. Netanyahu has repeatedly defended the overhaul in public remarks, and with this law on the books, the court will not be able to remove him from office for violating the gag order.
“Tonight I tell you, my friends, citizens of Israel: No more,” Netanyahu said in his speech. “I’m coming in.”
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Qatari PM Meets Iran’s Larijani in Tehran, Discusses Easing Regional Tensions
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani speaks after a meeting with the Lebanese president at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon February 4, 2025. REUTERS/Emilie Madi
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani met with top Iranian security official Ali Larijani in Tehran and reviewed efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region, Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Saturday in a statement.
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Tesla Receives Approval to Test Autonomous Driving in Israel
March 12, 2025, Seattle, Washington, USA: A row of brand-new Tesla Cybertrucks stands in a Tesla Motors Logistics Drop Zone in Seattle, Washington, USA, on Wed., March 12, 2025. Photo: ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect
i24 News – The Ministry of Transport announced on Sunday that it has granted Tesla official approval to conduct trials of its autonomous driving system on Israel’s roads. The move comes as part of an effort to examine how the car manufacturer’s advanced technology can be integrated into the local driving environment, with full support from the ministry.
The trials will focus on Tesla’s Fully Self-Driving (FSD) system, a supervised autonomous driving platform. Under the terms of the approval, a driver must remain present in the vehicle at all times to supervise the system, despite its autonomous capabilities. This ensures safety while allowing the technology to be tested in real-world conditions.
The Ministry of Transport described the approval as a significant step toward advancing vehicle regulation in Israel. Officials said the initiative aims to create a regulatory framework that will allow for the routine, supervised use of autonomous driving systems in the future, safely and efficiently.
Tesla will use the trials to assess how the FSD system interacts with Israel’s road infrastructure, traffic patterns, and local driving behaviors. Data collected during the experiment will help refine the system and inform potential regulatory updates to accommodate autonomous vehicles.
The ministry emphasized that the pilot program is limited in scope and strictly monitored. It noted that all necessary safety protocols are in place and that public safety remains the top priority throughout the testing period.
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Reopening of Gaza’s Rafah Crossing Expected Monday, Officials Say
An aid truck moves on a road after entering Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 1, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Gaza’s main border crossing in Rafah will reopen for Palestinians on Monday, Israel said, with preparations underway at the war-ravaged enclave’s main gateway that has been largely shut for almost two years.
Before the war, the Rafah border crossing with Egypt was the only direct exit point for most Gazans to reach the outside world as well as a key entry point for aid into the territory. It has been largely shut since May 2024 and under Israeli military control on the Gazan side.
COGAT, the Israeli military unit that oversees humanitarian coordination, said the crossing will reopen in both directions for Gaza residents on foot only and its operation will be coordinated with Egypt and the European Union.
“Today, a pilot is underway to test and assess the operation of the crossing. The movement of residents in both directions, entry and exit to and from Gaza, is expected to begin tomorrow,” COGAT said in a statement.
A Palestinian official and a European source close to the EU mission confirmed the details. The Egyptian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
STRICT SECURITY CHECKS
Israel has said the crossing would open under stringent security checks only for Palestinians who wish to leave the war-ravaged enclave and for those who fled the fighting in the first months of the war to return.
Many of those expected to leave are sick and wounded Gazans in need of medical care abroad. The Palestinian health ministry has said that there are 20,000 patients waiting to leave Gaza.
An Israeli defense official said that the crossing can hold between 150-200 people altogether in both directions. There will be more people leaving than returning because patients leave together with escorts, the official added.
“(The Rafah crossing) is the lifeline for us, the patients. We don’t have the resources to be treated in Gaza,” said Moustafa Abdel Hadi, a kidney patient in a central Gaza hospital, awaiting a transplant abroad.
“If the war impacted a healthy person by 1 percent, it has impacted us 200 percent,” he said, sitting as he received dialysis treatment at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. His travel request, he said, has been approved.
Two Egyptian officials said that at least 50 Palestinian patients will be processed on Sunday to cross Rafah into Egypt for treatment. In the first few days around 200 people, patients and their family members, will cross daily into Egypt, the officials said, with 50 people returning to Gaza per day.
Lists of Gazans set to pass through the crossing have been submitted by Egypt and approved by Israel, the official said.
NEXT PHASE OF TRUMP’S GAZA PLAN
Reopening the border crossing was a key requirement of the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Israel-Hamas war.
But the ceasefire, which came into effect in October after two years of fighting, has been repeatedly shaken by rounds of violence.
On Saturday, Israel launched some of its most intense airstrikes since the ceasefire, killing at least 30 people, in what it said was a response to a Hamas violation of the truce on Friday when militants emerged from a tunnel in Rafah.
The next phases of Trump’s plan for Gaza foresee governance being handed to Palestinian technocrats, Hamas laying down its weapons and Israeli troops withdrawing from the territory while an international force keeps the peace and Gaza is rebuilt.
Hamas has so far rejected disarmament and Israel has repeatedly indicated that if the Islamist terrorist group is not disarmed peacefully, it will use force to make it do so.