The BBC, Reuters and The Telegraph report that hundreds of thousands of Israelis rallied against the government’s judicial plans on Saturday night, in what organisers said were the biggest street protests in Israel’s history. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the changes – which would curb the power of courts – will restore balance between the branches of government. Opponents say they threaten democracy. At one of Saturday’s rallies, opposition leader Yair Lapid said this was Israel’s “greatest crisis”. Michael Rubin of LFI adds in a letter to The Guardian: “An estimated 250,000 Israelis took to the streets to oppose the government’s judicial reforms. Given the size of the population, this is roughly equivalent to 1.9 million Britons joining the protests – a figure far in excess of any in our history. Those of us who care for Israeli democracy stand four-square behind the opposition to Netanyahu both on the streets and in the Knesset.” The Times adds that Netanyahu has vowed his government will “fulfil our mandate” despite a weekend of historic mass demonstrations, and The Financial Times reports on the protests by Israeli reservists.

The Times publishes an essay on Israel, saying: “Many in the legal establishment believe that if the government presses ahead, the Supreme Court will have little choice but to rule against the new laws, creating a full-blown constitutional crisis — without a constitution — as the government is unlikely to accept such a ruling. The civil service and security chiefs would have to decide whether they obey the courts or the government. ‘If the government defies the Supreme Court, the attorney-general will have to declare it [the government] unlawful,’ says Moshe Ya’alon, a former army chief of staff and Likud defence minister, now a protester against the government. He is certain of one thing: ‘The security chiefs will abide by the court’s rulings, not the cabinet.’” 
 
Reuters and Sky News reports that Israeli troops killed three Palestinian gunmen who attacked their post in the occupied West Bank on Sunday. The Army added that a fourth gunman was detained after surrendering. The Palestinian health ministry confirmed the deaths near the city of Nablus in the northern part of the West Bank, which has seen a surge in violence in recent months.

Sky News, The Guardian, The BBC, The Financial Times report that Saudi Arabia and Iran have announced they will resume ties after years of hostility. The news follows four days of secret talks in the Chinese capital Beijing and will be seen as a major step towards stability in the Middle East. The agreement was signed by Iran’s top security official and Saudi Arabia’s national security adviser and has been described by the top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi as “a victory for dialogue and peace”. Reuters also reports that “the Saudi-Iran detente sets back Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to isolate Tehran, but time will tell whether it also hinders his outreach to Riyadh or planning for any eventual military strike against Iranian nuclear sites. The more pressing worry for Israel is that Friday’s Chinese-brokered deal between the top Sunni and Shi’ite Muslim powers suggests the United States is giving ground in the region just when the Netanyahu government needs it most”.
In Israel Hayom, Yoav Limor writes that the newly announced restoration of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, seemingly brokered by China, “is bad news whichever way you look at it: it strengthens Iran, weakens the alliance in opposition to Tehran, expands China’s regional influence at the expense of the US, and essentially makes any chance of normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia that much more a distant possibility.” “Israel was clearly aware of the talks between Tehran and Riyadh and the question is what it did to try and stop them,” Limor continues. “The Israeli government might well be shouting ‘Iran’ at the top of its lungs, but for the moment it has no tangible results to show for all this. The Western world finds it difficult to work together with a government perceived to be undermining the pillars of its own democracy and it is looking on at the current internal strife in Israel with a mixture of concern and amazement.”

In Haaretz¸ Daniel B Shapiro takes a more optimistic outlook. “For Israel,” he writes, “the notion that something major has been lost in this turn of events — the collapse of an anti-Iran coalition or even a threat to its Abraham Accords alliances — is overstated. Washington and Jerusalem both need to view the Iranian-Saudi announcement not as crisis, but as a reinforcement of the common approach they must pursue: Deterring Iran from crossing further thresholds on the path to a nuclear weapon; exposing, and increasing Western sanctions against, Iran over its suppression of peaceful Iranian protesters and its provision of weapons to support Russia’s brutal attacks on Ukrainian civilians (efforts Arab governments and China were never going to join); and working to expand Israel’s normalized relations with additional Arab states, including Saudi Arabia. To keep focus on these tasks, there is no benefit to being distracted either by handshakes in Beijing, or for these critical priorities to be derailed by the raging domestic turmoil in Israel over judicial overhaul legislation and escalating Israeli-Palestinian tensions in the West Bank — both of which Israeli leaders should do everything actually in their power to de-escalate.”

Channel 12 yesterday reported that the UAE intended to suspend its acquisition of sensitive security systems from Israel, in response to the policies and public announcements of both Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. While the Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Ministry denied the truth of the reports, Yediot Ahronot quotes “informed sources” as confirming that there were real causes for concern over relations with Abu Dhabi.

Ynet covers Smotrich’s controversial visit to the US. The White House was joined by major US Jewish organisations in announcing prior to his arrival that officials would not meet with him, amid anger at his recent call to “wipe out” the West Bank village of Huwara. Speaking to 150 leaders of the Israel Bonds investment organisation, Smotrich tried to row back on the issue, saying “As I have already said and written and repeat now with sincere regret, my comments about Huwara created a completely mistaken impression. I stand before you now as always committed to the security of the state of Israel, to our shared values, and to the highest moral commitment of our armed forces to protect every innocent life, Jew or Arab.” A group of demonstrators, including representatives of US Jewish groups, gathered at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, DC to protest Smotrich’s visit. Kan Radio reports that Smotrich is due in France next week, where he will be similarly snubbed by government and French-Jewish figures.

In other US-Israeli news, I24 News covers the beginning of a two-week long joint exercise between the Israeli and American air forces. “Red Flag” will take place at the US Air Force Base in Nellis, Nevada and will, according to an Israeli army official, involve several types of training: “Strategic attack in depth, achieving aerial superiority in space, joint attack aircraft, defence of field cells, interception of enemy aircraft, low-altitude flight and attack in unfamiliar terrain rich in anti-aircraft defences. In addition, there will be a joint aerial refuelling in which Israeli refuelling planes will refuel American fighter jets, and Adir (the F-35I) planes will be refuelled using American KC135 refuelling planes. For the first time seven Adir planes and two Ram (the Boeing 707) planes will participate in the exercise in U.S. skies.” The exercise follows January’s “Juniper Oak”, the largest ever joint military exercise between the two countries.

I24 News covers the killing of three Lion’s Den terror cell members in clashes with the IDF in the West Bank city of Nablus yesterday. A further gunman handed himself in to forces. An army spokesperson announced that members of the Golani Brigade came under fire while patrolling near the Jit junction, and responded in kind. Three M-16 rifles, a pistol and cartridges were discovered in the terrorists’ possession, while Lion’s Den released a statement saying “The blood shed from Nablus to Jenin, passing through every inch of Palestine, only increases our determination to continue the path of victory and liberation.”

Army Radio covers the police and GSS arresting three right-wing activists in the West Bank this morning for their alleged role in violent acts both in Huwara and in a separate “price tag” operation. Makor Rishon, meanwhile, reports that Qatar has provided a grant of half a million dollars to the residents of Huwara.

Kan Radio reports on the shooting dead of an Arab-Israeli woman in Kafr Kanna in the Lower Galilee last night. Baayan Abbas, 29, was shot in the front yard of her home, apparently in the same clash between feuding clans which claimed the life of a 17-year-old girl last year. Haaretz concludes that Abbas’s is the thirtieth murder in Arab society so far in 2023, following 111 last year. Maariv also reports an attempted “assassination” of a man in his twenties near the Megiddo junction in the Jezreel Valley this morning.