They blocked highways, tunnels and a road leading to Israel’s military headquarters. They rallied outside the homes of government ministers, knocked on the glass doors of the Tel Aviv stock exchange, and thronged the platforms of major train stations. They waved Israeli flags, creating a sea of blue and white at major intersections in central Israel.
Despite temperatures soaring to 90 degrees Fahrenheit in some parts of the country, thousands of Israelis held dozens of rallies in central Israel on Tuesday to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to end a law in the next week that will limit the power of the Supreme Court.
In what has become a regular weekly episode of disruption, demonstrators marched in several cities in a renewed effort to prevent the government from going ahead with a binding vote on the law in Parliament, likely on Monday. This is the 28th consecutive week of protests against the judicial plan.
Some held large roadside banners reading “Netanyahu divides the nation,” while others displayed a giant portrait of Theodor Herzl, a founding father of modern Zionism, with the slogan: “This is not what I mean is.”
One group hung a giant version of the Israeli declaration of independence from a highway flyover, and another lay down on an access road to the Israeli Army headquarters in Tel Aviv, briefly blocking traffic. Residents of retirement communities, some of whom use walking frames, protested on the streets outside their homes.
And women’s rights activists — dressed in crimson dresses inspired by characters from “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Margaret Atwood’s novel about a totalitarian patriarchal state made into a television series — rallied in Raanana, central Israel.
By afternoon, police said they had arrested 19 protesters for violating public order. Officers also gathered outside several train stations, trying to stop protesters from gathering on the platforms.
Protesters fear the proposed law would undermine democracy by reducing judicial oversight of the cabinet, allow more government overreach and pave the way for a more conservative, religious and patriarchal society. The government of Mr. Netanyahu said the plan would improve democracy by making elected lawmakers less beholden to unelected judges.
A date for the meeting was not set, and the offer stopped at an invitation to the White House itself. But the news still came as a blow to protesters, who had hoped Mr. Biden would use his influence on Mr. Netanyahu to persuade him to suspend the legislative process.
The US government is a key ally of Israel, providing it with nearly $4 billion in annual aid, as well as weapons and defense systems, and systematic diplomatic cover in the United Nations Security Council.
Mr. Biden is scheduled to meet President Isaac Herzog of Israel, whose position is largely ceremonial, at the White House on Tuesday, another sign of the strong ties between the two countries.
An alliance of protest movements — whose membership includes groups of authors, economists, political scientists and social workers — published an open letter to Congress on Tuesday, calling on US lawmakers to take of a strong stance against Mr. Netanyahu’s domestic policies.
Without further US intervention, the protest movement is trying to exert local pressure on Mr. Netanyahu through labor unions and military reservists. Thousands of members of the Israeli military reserve have threatened to withdraw from voluntary duty if the law goes ahead – a move that could affect the operational capacity of key military sectors, particularly the Air Force, which relies heavily on reserve pilots .
Israel’s main labor union, the Histadrut, has said it may organize a general strike to protest the law, a prospect that helped suspend an earlier legislative push in March.
But the union has yet to officially confirm its position. To force it to join their cause, some protesters rallied outside the histadrut headquarters in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
The Israeli Medical Association, a union of about 30,000 doctors, announced that its members would cut medical work for two hours on Wednesday in protest of the judiciary’s law.
“We will do everything we can to minimize the impact on patients,” said Leah Wapner, the association’s chief executive.
Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting from Rehovot, Israel.