Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government have repeatedly argued that a majority of Israelis voted for their judicial overhaul plan — one element of which parliament passed into law on Monday — and that they are carrying out the will of the people.

However, Israeli opinion polls have consistently indicated that more people oppose the government’s plan than support it.

During last year’s election campaign, Netanyahu’s Likud party made only general references to a plan for judicial changes, announcing its details and scope only in January, after the party had come into office as part of a nationalist and religiously conservative coalition government.

One far-Right party in the coalition had laid out a detailed judicial plan before last November’s election.

In one typical survey — involving more than 700 Israeli adults, both Hebrew- and Arabic speakers, and conducted by phone and Internet over three days in late January — 43 per cent of respondents described the government’s judicial overhaul plan as “bad,” while 31 per cent described it as “good.” A quarter of those asked did not have an opinion.

New York Times News Service