There have been renewed protests in Israel on the day before an eagerly awaited court hearing on the government’s controversial judicial reform plans.
Several hundred demonstrators gathered in front of Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s house in the town of Modiin on Monday morning.
There were reportedly isolated confrontations with the police.
In the evening, a large rally took place in Jerusalem in front of the Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, all 15 judges of the court are to meet for the first time to discuss petitions against a recently passed law.
It is part of a sweeping bill by the nationalist-religious government to weaken the judiciary.
It is expected that the deliberations could take several weeks.
If the court opposes the law and the government does not accept the decision, the country could be plunged into a constitutional crisis.
Talks on a compromise with the opposition led by President Isaac Herzog have so far been unsuccessful.
On Monday, several Israeli media outlets reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was pushing for a unilateral weakening of the law, without the opposition’s approval.
It was unclear, however, whether he would get enough support for this within his coalition.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said he had warned that a compromise proposal would emerge shortly before the court hearing that would “look too good to be true”.
Read the article in The Canberra Times (AAP).