Thousands of people gathered at Ben Gurion Airport this afternoon (Tuesday) for a demonstration against the government's planned judicial reform after a bill limiting the court's ability to apply the reasonableness standard was passed in its first reading in the Knesset. The demonstration is expected to continue through the evening hours. The police reported that two demonstrators have been arrested at the airport, while 66 people have been arrested at other protests across the country. Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai said that "there is no change in the police policy towards the protesters" and that "as long as passenger traffic is not disrupted in the airport - we will allow the protest to be held there. No flight was delayed by the protest last week." Related articles: Return Western Wall stones to Jerusalem Passport control workers threaten strike on Sunday Murder suspect arrested at airport moments before fleeing country 5 UAVs launched at Israel intercepted over Mediterranean Sea It was reported earlier that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara had approved the demonstration at Israel's primary international airport. Baharav-Miara wrote that, "Ben Gurion Airport is a public space and therefore every person has the right to freedom of speech and protest in this place as well." "Neither the Director of the Israel Airports Authority nor any other body has any authority under the law to prevent the entry of people into the airport solely on the basis of the fact that they do not have plane tickets for that day," she added. A senior source in the Israeli government slammed Baharav-Miara's decision, saying that it "legitimizes turning Israeli citizens into hostages of an extremist minority. She sets a new standard according to which protests in support of a personal position trump the freedom of movement to and from Israel, while harming unacceptably hundreds of thousands of families who paid good money for a vacation which they waited a long time for."
