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Anti-judicial reform protesters target Jerusalem yeshivah

The demonstrators said that the Religious Zionist yeshivah would lead Israel in the direction of a “halachic state.”

Activists protest against the government's planned judicial overhaul, outside Har Hamor Yeshiva in Har Homa, Jerusalem, on July 5, 2023. Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90.
Activists protest against the government’s planned judicial overhaul, outside Har Hamor Yeshiva in Har Homa, Jerusalem, on July 5, 2023. Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90.

Dozens of anti-judicial reform demonstrators gathered for a rally on Wednesday morning in front of Har Hamor, a Religious Zionist yeshivah in Jerusalem.

The yeshivah is headed by Rabbi Zvi Thau, the spiritual leader of the Noam Party.

Protesters said that they were targeting the yeshivah because it would lead Israel in the direction of being a “halachic state,” a country based on Jewish religious laws.

“We came to protest against messianic religious Zionism that is destroying Israel,” protester Tamir Levital told Channel 12 news. “The rabbis who educate teenagers here are the same rabbis supplying religious Zionism’s politicians, who are taking Israel in the direction of a halachic state of Jewish supremacism and racism.”

Protesters were heard chanting: “There will be no Torah law.”

One person was arrested during the demonstration, which featured Israeli flags and smoke flares.

The protest movement against the right-wing and religious coalition led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is active again after a brief respite during a pause in proposed judicial reform legislation that has restarted in the Knesset.

Dozens were detained as thousands of protesters attempted to bar access to Ben-Gurion Airport on Monday, in the latest effort by opponents of the government’s judicial reform initiative to bring Israel to a halt.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of protesters blocked access roads to Haifa Port, preventing vehicles from reaching Israel’s largest cargo link.

A 25-foot buffer zone around houses of worship would include a penalty for protesters who breach it, though the state assembly speaker said nothing has been agreed to yet.
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