Thousands of Israelis protest new government's policies

Thousands of Israelis took to the streets Saturday evening to protest Benjamin Netanyahu's new government.

The most right-wing and religiously conservative government in the country's 74-year history was sworn in last week.

One of the placards said that the government was against him. There was a banner that said, "Housing, Livelihood, Hope." Protesters carried flags.

Left-wing and Arab members of the Knesset led the protest. Proposed plans by the new Cabinet will affect the judicial system.

The left-wing protesters slammed Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who on Wednesday unveiled the government's long-promised overhauled of the judicial system that aims to weaken the country's supreme court.

Critics said the plan would upend Israel's system of checks and balances and undermine its democratic institutions by giving absolute power to the new governing coalition.

Danny Simon, 77, a protester from Yavne, south of Tel Aviv, said, "We are really afraid that our country is going to lose the democracy and we are going to be a dictatorship just for reasons of one person." He was talking about Netanyahu who was indicted on corruption charges.

The protesters called for co-existence between Jews and Arabs.

Rula Daood is a leader of the grassroots movement of Arabs and Jews. All of us, Arabs and Jews, and different communities inside of Israel, demand peace, equality and justice, that's what we're saying here.