Growing numbers including from elite air force squadron say they are unwilling to serve ‘dictatorial regime’

Growing numbers of Israel’s military reservists, including members of its most important air force squadron, are refusing to attend for service, an unprecedented step that comes as part of the protest movement against the country’s new far-right government.

In an announcement on Sunday, all but three of the 40 reservist pilots in Israel’s elite 69 Squadron said they would not take part in a training exercise later this week, and instead participate in widespread public protests, claiming they were not prepared to serve a “dictatorial regime”.

Tens of thousands gather for rally and workers in several sectors strike over rightwing government’s proposals

Israel’s new hard-right government has begun introducing sweeping legislation aimed at overhauling the judicial system, prompting the largest public demonstrations against the proposed measures to date.

In a heated meeting in which several opposition politicians had to be forcibly removed, the Knesset’s constitution, law and justice committee voted on two bills on Monday: one will give politicians greater control over the appointment of supreme court justices, and the other will allow a simple majority in the Knesset to override almost all supreme court rulings.

Protests were held in 20 cities across Israel, with demonstrators also decrying proposed settlement expansion in the West Bank

Thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv for the fifth consecutive week to demonstrate against controversial legal reforms touted by Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightwing government.

Crowds carrying blue and white Israeli flags filled the city’s central Kaplan Street on Saturday, with signs labelling the new government a “threat to world peace”.

Prime minister’s coalition in jeopardy after Aryeh Deri ruled ineligible for government due to tax offences

Israel’s supreme court has ruled that the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, must fire a key ally from the country’s new cabinet, presenting the Israeli leader with a potential coalition crisis and deepening a rift over the power of the courts.

Ten of 11 judges on the high court found that Aryeh Deri, the influential head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party who has served repeatedly in Netanyahu’s previous governments, is disqualified from serving as a minister after he was convicted last year for tax offences and placed on probation as part of a plea deal. Deri has pledged not to quit and met Netanyahu after the ruling.

Grave concerns over Netanyahu coalition’s plan to invalidate supreme court decisions with simple majority

Civil liberties and human rights advocates have expressed grave concerns about a plan by Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right Israeli government to limit the power of the judiciary, saying it will encourage authoritarianism and put minority rights in imminent danger.

“If they succeed, it’s a different system, a different Israel,” said Dan Meridor, a former justice minister, stressing that in the absence of a constitution, the country’s courts serve to protect people from “being at the mercy of the governing majority”.