When the legislation to curb judicial oversight of the government passed in the Knesset on Monday, it led to a wave of protests and drew significant global media attention, particularly within the Arab world. The wave of demonstrations that erupted across the country, mere hours after the final approval of the first law of the judicial overhaul, received considerable coverage in various media outlets.
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Prominent Arab newspapers dedicated their front-page headlines to the reform and the protests. In the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, the main headline in the printed edition read: "Netanyahu's reform causes Israel to descend into chaos." Meanwhile, Al-Quds Al-Arabi's headline screamed that "Israel is in a civil war, protests against Netanyahu are growing."
The prominent Lebanese newspaper, Hadiqat al-Akhbar, associated with the Hezbollah terror group, devoted its main headline Tuesday morning to the reform and protests in Israel. "Israel – war of the tribes," crossed the front page, referring to the divide among the people and the tension between the two camps, those in favor and those opposing the legislation.
The Lebanese newspaper's main headline comes after, on Monday Hezbollah's Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, delivered a speech as part of the religious sermons held during the Ashura commemoration days. These sermons mostly focus on religious matters, but Nasrallah also addressed the situation in Israel, stating: "There was a time when it was believed that Israel could not be defeated and that its army was invincible. Many countries in the region considered its threat as an undeniable fact that cannot be removed."
The Lebanese-Iranian television channel, Al Mayadeen, which closely follows the protests and expressed special interest in the reservists' protest, quoted former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert from an interview he gave to a British channel, in which he claimed that "Israel is heading toward a fratricidal war."
Similarly, on Hezbollah's television channel, Al-Manar, the protests and legislation were extensively covered, and the reports highlighted the overnight clashes in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem under the headline: "Widespread protests in Israel following approval of judicial reform."
Even Iran paid attention to Israel, and the Iranian news agency Tasnim published a report on the subject, although it did not receive a main headline. The headline of the short article about it said: "Thousands try to break into the Knesset following approval of judicial reform."
The Iranian television channel Al-Alam reported that "Israel is facing internal turmoil – protests in Israel continue against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attempts to push through a series of legislative moves viewed by critics as anti-democratic and illegitimate, as voices opposing military service and military reserves grow stronger."