Mass Anti-Judicial Reform Protests Continue in Israel

Protests continued in Israel on Thursday, with a planned day-long campaign billed as a “day of paralysis,” meant to bring the regime to a halt in protest of the current judicial reform legislation making its way through the Knesset.

Some 500,000 people are expected to join the protests throughout the occupied territories.

The first protests of the day included school children and their parents or guardians protesting at intersections; protesters also have gathered outside the homes of coalition lawmakers.

Protesters blocked the helicopter pad near the private home of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Caesarea on Thursday morning; Netanyahu is scheduled to leave for London later in the day.

The protesters blocked traffic on major highways around Ben Gurion Airport ahead of Netanyahu’s trip. Meanwhile, protesters blocked the maritime port in Ashdod in southern Israel were removed by police on Thursday morning.

The culminating rally on Thursday evening is expected to be a march from Ramat Gan, located next to Tel Aviv, to the ultra-Orthodox-dominated city of Bnei Brak, home to several lawmakers and an area where there is a high level of support for the judicial reform in order to protect legislation that would exempt haredi men from serving in the Israel Defense Forces.