JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Tens of 1000’s of Israelis braved heavy rain on Saturday for a fifth week of protests in opposition to judicial reform plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new authorities that critics say threaten democratic checks on ministers by the courts.

The plans, which the federal government says are wanted to curb overreach by judges, have drawn fierce opposition from teams together with attorneys, and raised issues amongst enterprise leaders, widening already deep political divisions in Israeli society.

“I’m right here tonight protesting in opposition to the transition of Israel from a democracy to an autocracy,” Dov Levenglick, 48, a software program engineer advised Reuters in Tel Aviv.

“It’s a shame, it shall not stand.”

Netanyahu has dismissed the protests as a refusal by leftist opponents to simply accept the outcomes of final November’s election, which produced one of the crucial right-wing governments in Israel’s historical past.

The protesters say Israeli democracy can be undermined if the federal government succeeds in pushing by the plans, which might tighten political management over judicial appointments and restrict the Supreme Court docket’s powers to overturn authorities choices or Knesset legal guidelines.

“They need to tear up the judiciary system of Israel, they need to tear up Israeli democracy, and we’re right here each week in each climate … to struggle in opposition to it and to struggle for Israeli democracy,” Hadar Segal, 35, advised Reuters in Tel Aviv.

Opposition chief Yair Lapid joined demonstrations within the coastal metropolis of Haifa, the place he mentioned protesters “got here to avoid wasting their nation, and we got here to protest with them.”