The Times of Israel is liveblogging Tuesday’s events as they unfold.
IDF reservist group says it will pause protests after PM calls for overhaul halt
A protest group representing reservist soldiers announces it is pausing its activities following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to delay the judicial overhaul, but vows to resume if the government moves ahead with the legislation.
“According to [Netanyahu], this halt was made with the intention of giving time for negotiations. We — like the majority of the people — do not believe the words, do not believe that there is a real intention to reach a broad agreement. We only believe in actions,” the Brothers in Arms group says in a statement.
“At the same time, as principled reserve volunteers who led the country every time the country called us, and after deep thought and [a sense of] national responsibility for the unity of the people… we decided to give the negotiation process a chance,” the group says.
But the protesters say: “We are ready and organized to renew the protest in a short time.”
“Brothers in Arms will resume active protest actions with full force immediately if it turns out that the time allowed for talks is being cynically used to further damage democracy,” the group adds.
Belgium arrests eight people in ‘terror attack’ probe
Police detain eight people during investigations into an alleged plot to commit “terrorist attacks” in Belgium, the federal prosecutor’s office says.
Raids were conducted late last night on homes in the capital Brussels, the port city of Antwerp and the border town of Eupen, the statement says.
A judicial source tells AFP those arrested “were very young radicalized people” suspected of belonging to a jihadist movement.
The statement says at least five of those detained were suspected of planning to “commit a terrorist attack in Belgium.”
Knesset passes ‘Hametz Law’ allowing hospitals to ban leavened products during Passover
The Knesset enacts legislation that enables hospitals to ban the entry of leavened food, or hametz, ahead of next week’s Passover holiday, during which observant Jews eschew such products.
A softened version of an earlier proposal, the bill enables hospital administrators to set a policy and post it on their website or with signage, but does not explicitly allow security guards to search patients’ or visitors’ bags to enforce the policy.
Ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism sponsored the bill, outraged after a 2020 High Court of Justice ruling blocked hospitals from searching bags to check for hametz, in response to petitions decrying the searches as invasive and religiously intrusive. The court extended its ruling to army bases last year.
