Middle East Monitor / July 24, 2023
With the planned judicial overhaul reaching a critical stage in the Knesset, dozens of major Israeli corporations will go on strike in an effort to put further pressure on the country’s far-right government to scrap its plan. The Presidium of Israel Business Organizations, which represents 100 of the largest businesses in Israel, announced that they will strike today as legislators vote in the Israeli parliament.
The companies striking include some of the largest high-tech firms in Israel, including Wix, Wiz, Monday, Papaya Global, Lemonade, Redis, CHEQ, Riskified and Forter. Banks, large retails chains, Tnuva, the largest dairy business, insurance companies, hotels and Facebook Israel have also joined the protest.
Israel’s lawmakers are holding the final vote on the “reasonableness” test that is pivotal to the judicial overhaul. Reasonableness is a test established by the courts through which they are able to exercise judicial oversight of government decisions they consider reckless, unethical or considered incompletely.
The reasonableness test, however, has not proven to be an obstruction to Israel entrenching its illegal occupation and establishing a discriminatory legal system which major human rights groups have labelled apartheid.
The chairman of Histadrut, Israel’s national federation of trade unions, proposed a compromise to the government yesterday for the reasonableness test, but both the coalition and the opposition rejected the union proposal.
While police are clashing with pro-democracy protesters who are rallying outside the parliament building, the architects of the judicial coup are said to be threatening to topple the coalition if the bill is amended at the very last minute.
