JERUSALEM: The protest movement of large sections of Israeli society against the judicial reform project wanted by the government seems to be developing into a new political camp that places commitment to the rule of law above traditional divisions.

Until the formation of a government of right-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties at the end of December, the main fault lines in Israeli society were the secular-religious, centre-left and centre-right, Ashkenazi and Sephardic divisions.

But the judiciary reform defended by the government, decried by its critics as anti-democratic because they believed it consisted in weakening judicial protections in favor of elected officials, and the entry into government of religious nationalists previously thought unlikely because of their ministers extremist Positions have changed the situation.

On the contrary, the majority affirm that the reform is necessary to rebalance powers and reduce the influence of a Supreme Court, which they consider politicized.

In the mass demonstrations that have been going on for three months, the recurring slogan is “Democracy!” taken up by all protest groups, from financial workers and technical engineers to army reservists, feminist and right-wing groups and movements opposed to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories.

“Moderate left and right”

Israeli officials readily present their country as “the only democracy in the Middle East,” but many critics, both outside and within Israel, point to the “incomplete” nature of that democracy, given the discrimination faced by its Arab minority under the weight of the Religious suffers institution and the continued occupation of the Palestinian territories.

While the protest is mostly expressed in Tel Aviv, the stronghold of the Israeli left, demonstrations by the moderate right against the reform have taken place in various places.

Even within the Likud, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing party, conflicting voices are beginning to be heard about the scale of the challenge.

“It is actually the first time that there is a real mass movement that can bring together communities that previously had nothing in common, people from the left and moderate right, secular and religious critics, Jews and Arabs,” said sociologist Eva Illouz in one Interview with AFP.

The motives of this new political camp are, in her opinion, both “moral” and “sociological”.

“Many people don’t want to live in a country that explicitly, declares and legally denies minority rights,” says the sociologist, for whom the current movement is also “a revolt of the lay people against the religious, even if […] it stays in the unsaid,” she said.

“Radical and populist”

In Israel, the ultra-Orthodox, who make up more than 10% of the population, are exempt from military service and many of them do not work to devote themselves to Torah study.

The subsidies and tax exemptions they benefit from, defended by the political parties they represent, members of the current governing coalition, draw hostility from a large segment of the non-religious Israeli public, who accuse them of living at their expense.

The reform has also caused concern in business and financial circles, particularly in the high-tech sector, and has already led to a significant weakening of the shekel against the dollar and the euro since the beginning of the year.

For Amir Fuchs, a researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), a liberal-inspired think tank, the protest movement underscores resistance among Israelis, of whom various polls say more than 60 percent oppose the reform, to an attempt at a “populist overhaul of the justice system “.

“The right-left and religious-secular divide is there, but many right-wing and/or religious voters who voted for the current government are hostile, radical and populist to the reform as it stands,” he told an interviewer with AFP.

And to underline: “For them, democracy is not only the government of the majority, but also the defense of minorities, human rights and the independence of the judiciary”.

Given the scale of the protest, Mr Netanyahu suspended parliamentary scrutiny of the reform at the end of March, with the stated aim of winning over part of the opposition to a more consensual project at the end of the ongoing negotiations. Meanwhile, the mobilization of the opponents continues unabated.