An aerial view of an highway near Jerusalem as Israelis gather to protest against Knesset vote on judicial overhaul bill, in Jerusalem on July 11, 2023 [Yair Palti - Anadolu Agency]
Tel Aviv, July 19 (RHC)-- Hundreds of Israeli reserve doctors have reportedly suspended their military services in the regime’s occupation army to protest radical policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's extremist cabinet.
The London-based Rai al-Youm newspaper said the Israeli doctors, including physicians and psychiatrists, penned a letter to Israel’s Military Medicine Club and called for informing the military leadership on their action against Netanyahu’s highly unpopular scheme to overhaul the regime's judicial system.
In an urgent message, the Military Medicine Club called on the Israeli premier’s far-right coalition cabinet to stop the judicial reform plan before it is too late. More than one thousand doctors had a day earlier sent a letter to the Israel Medical Association, calling for the declaration of a strike until the "complete trashing of the overhaul."
Hundreds of medical students also issued a plea that called for a strike over the widely-bashed reform plan.
Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets across the occupied territories for the 28th straight week on Saturday against the policies of the regime's extremist cabinet. The protesters also demonstrated outside the residence of Israeli President Isaac Herzog in the city of al-Quds.
The so-called judicial overhaul scheme seeks to take away the Israeli Supreme Court's power to overrule the decisions made by the regime's politicians. It is also aimed at giving the Israeli cabinet a greater say in the process of selecting judges to the court. Its supporters allege that the plan will end decades of overreach by judges, while opponents argue that it will remove necessary checks on the power that is wielded by the politicians.
Critics have also accused Netanyahu, who is on trial on several counts of corruption charges, of trying to use the scheme to quash possible judgments against him. Protesters have vowed to keep holding the monumental rallies until the cabinet decides against pushing through with the overhaul plan.
