Israeli Government Faces Escalating Protests Over Judicial Overhaul

Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, a prominent Reform rabbi in New York City, criticized Israel's judicial overhaul, saying that the government is "speeding headlong toward the abyss." He expressed concern over the breakneck speed at which the government is pushing through the overhaul, which will allow the Knesset to override court decisions with the barest majority, preemptively shield laws from judicial oversight altogether, and put the selection of all judges in the hands of coalition politicians. Hirsch praised the hundreds of thousands of people protesting in Israel every week, noting that they were "the proportional equivalent of 12 million Americans."