Thousands of Israelis protest government legal change plans

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Tens of thousands of Israelis are demonstrating against a contentious government plan to overhaul the judiciary, demanding the changes to be scrapped rather than delayed. The protests have been held on a weekly basis for most of the year and they continued despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announcing in March that he was postponing the proposals to reach a compromise agreement. Organizers of the protests, now in their 18th week, say they want to ramp up the pressure on Netanyahu’s government and lawmakers.The plan would give Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, and his partners in Israel’s most hardline coalition in its history the final say in appointing judges and authority to overturn Supreme Court decisions.