OCCUPIED AL-QUDS (Dispatches) – The occupying regime of Israel’s president Isaac Herzog said on Tuesday there is a “feeling of mourning” after MPs passed first reading of bills that are part of the illegal entity’s new extremist.
The bills, which will give the governing coalition effective control of judges’ appointment and revoke the supreme court’s ability to strike down quasi-constitutional basic laws, were passed with 63 votes in favor and 47 against amid an outcry from the opposition and huge protests.
The second and third readings of the bills are set for late March before a final vote in the Zionist entity’s parliament, the Knesset.
“This is a very difficult morning. There is a feeling of mourning, there is no feeling of celebration,” Herzog said.
After the passing of the bills on Monday, hardline prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was “a big night and a big day”.
The bills are part of a wider judicial overhaul plan presented by the extremist Netanyahu-led regime earlier this year.
In addition to giving the regime de facto power to select judges, the plan proposes measures that will seriously impede the supreme court’s power to curb laws it deems illegal.
The plan also aims to allow ministers to appoint their own legal advisers, rather than appointees who report to the attorney general.
The vote on Monday was met with fierce criticism by Netanyahu’s opponents.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said: “History will judge you for this night, for … tearing the Israeli people into pieces and just not caring.”
Outside the Knesset building in Al-Quds, tens of thousands of protesters gathered to denounce the bills ahead of the voting.
During the bill debates in the Knesset, some protesters banged on the glass barriers loudly when MP Simcha Rothman, who is sponsoring the bills, started speaking. They were removed by security guards.
Opposition MP Ram Ben Barak called the bills illegal and an attempt