Judicial reform protesters block main highway in Tel Aviv

A group of protesters opposed to the government’s judicial reform plan gathered to block Tel Aviv’s central Ayalon highway on Thursday evening, just after a rally outside the home of Likud party Knesset Member Boaz Bismuth.

Earlier this week, Bismuth vowed to push the controversial reform forward “step by step.”

Amid the protests on Thursday, IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi spoke at a graduating ceremony at the Hatzerim Air Base. He told the graduating pilots he believes they will always answer when duty calls, as several reservists have threatened to not show up for military duty while the government advances the judicial overhaul.

“You are finishing this course today, after a long and complex training period. You are taking off on missions for the next 30 years, during which you will fly in the standing army, and in reserves, and I know that you will always show up when called upon to defend the country. This is the principle on which the IDF was founded,” Halevi said.

During the ceremony, some members of the crowd turned their backs to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while he spoke.