Protests mount after Israel passes judicial bill
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Transcript
00:00 Well first, Israel is inching closer to the possibility of a general strike.
00:04 On Monday, the Knesset, as expected, approved a key part of Benyamin Netanyahu's divisive
00:10 judicial overhaul, curbing judges' rights to rule on whether a government decision is
00:14 reasonable.
00:15 Now, the development fanned the flames of a now seven-month-old protest movement.
00:20 The Israeli Medical Association, which represents about 95 percent of doctors, has announced
00:25 a 24-hour protest on Tuesday.
00:27 And that may just be the tip of the iceberg.
00:30 Over 1,000 Air Force reservists had threatened to suspend their volunteer service if the
00:35 measure was adopted.
00:36 Here's reporter Sami Sokol in Jerusalem with more on the protest movement.
00:40 What is interesting is that the first demonstration here in Jerusalem was led by leaders of the
00:48 security establishment, like the former head of the Shin Bet, Einad Avargaman.
00:54 He was the first to be in the protest.
00:56 They were people from the business community.
00:59 And then, of course, students joined in.
01:01 And the police, they decided to disperse the demonstrators, but they still came pouring
01:06 in.
01:07 And in Tel Aviv, what we saw is kind of like a spontaneous demonstration with people going
01:13 down to the main highway, not only blocking the highway, but making bonfires.
01:20 They're accusing the police for not only dispersing them later on, but also throwing fire at them.
01:26 And probably the most significant incident yesterday, we saw a car that rammed into demonstrators.
01:35 And we believe that this was intentional.
01:38 And the driver himself was arrested by the police.
01:41 There were three injured.
01:43 And this is exactly the fears that exist here, that we're heading into a kind of a collision,
01:49 a kind of a civil war.
01:51 And yesterday, there was another incident in a kibbutz in the south of Israel, where
01:57 pro-government activists came to this kibbutz.
02:00 They tried to block the kibbutz.
02:02 And then the guard from the kibbutz, he shot in the air.
02:06 So we're talking about a very tense situation.
02:09 And the protests are continuing.
02:11 The doctors announced that the hospitals will be closed today for 24 hours, except for emergency
02:18 cases.
02:19 The movement has not died.