During his most recent campaign to become Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu promised that he would overhaul the judiciary. 

When the elections came around, the fourth in five years, his Likud Party, with the help of some far-right allies, were able to command a majority in the Israeli Knesset. 

Netanyahu quickly started his plans to reform the judiciary, and almost as quickly Israelis took to the street to protest against the planned changes. 

Week after week, and month after month, the protests intensified and the pressure grew on Netanyahu and his government. 

Eventually, the pressure became too great, and Netanyahu announced that he would suspend the bill and attempt to seek a consensus. 

This week on The New Arab Voice, we examine the protest movement that rocked Israel. What prompted the protests? Who was on the streets protesting? What were the demands of the protesters? Why did Netanyahu change course and suspend the reforms? And what is the state of the bill today?

For this episode, we sat down with Amjad Iraqi (@aj_iraqi). Amjad Iraqi is a senior editor at the Israeli publication +972 Magazine (@972mag); and also serves as a policy analyst at the think tank Al-Shabaka (@AlShabaka), and was previously an advocacy coordinator at the legal center Adalah.

This podcast is written and produced by Hugo Goodridge.

Theme music by Omar al-Fil. 

Other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

To get in touch with the producers, follow then tweet us at @TheNewArabVoice or email [email protected]

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