Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in one of the largest protests in Israel's history at the weekend, as demonstrations continued across the country against government plans for radical judicial reforms.
Opponents say the proposed overhaul would deliver a fatal blow to democracy in the country.
Speaking at one of the rallies on Saturday, opposition leader Yair Lapid described the moment as Israel's “greatest crisis”.
“A wave of terrorism is hitting us, our economy is crashing, money is escaping the country. Iran just signed yesterday a new agreement with Saudi Arabia. But the only thing this government cares about is crushing Israeli democracy,” he said.
An estimated 200,000 people turned out in Tel Aviv, and record numbers showed up in the economic powerhouse city of Haifa, reports said.
In Be'er Sheva, which is seen as a stronghold of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party Likud, there were 8,000.
The government says the reforms are necessary to rebalance political power away from what it views as a disproportionately powerful and anti-right wing judiciary.
On Sunday, Israeli media reported an unnamed senior government official as saying the protests were being funded from abroad.
Saturday's demonstrations were the 10th consecutive march in a string of protests that started with the formation of Israel's new government, the most right-wing in the country's history.
Demonstrations against the judicial reforms have also been taking place elsewhere. These included mass strikes that blocked the country's main airport, ports and motorways as groups from across Israeli society sound the alarm.
Most recently, the police force has been dragged into the dispute, after its commander in Tel Aviv was removed and demoted on Thursday for what senior government officials viewed as his overly tolerant approach to the demonstrations.
On Saturday, protesters applauded as the former commander, Amichai Eshed, walked through the demonstrations in Tel Aviv. Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai later said the move was a “mistake”.
Speaking to crowds in Tel Aviv on Saturday, former police chief Moshe Karadi said “Israel is facing a danger it has not faced” since the 1948 war.
Other key groups that have voiced concern include members of the country's tech community, one of Israel's most important economic blocs, and even members of the military, some of whom say they will not serve the government if it presses ahead with the measures.
On Wednesday, tech unicorn Riskified said it was taking $500 million out of Israel as a result of the government measures and offering relocation packages to staff.
Last week, the head of Israel's army told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the prospect of increased defections in the military could harm the effectiveness of the country's forces.
It came after 37 out of 40 reserve pilots in an elite air force squadron said they would boycott a coming training session in opposition to the legal reforms.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has been to striving find a compromise and said last week that the country's politicians are “closer than ever” to reaching a compromise, although details of a potential arrangement are yet to be made clear.
On Thursday, the president gave a speech in which he called on the administration to abandon the “oppressive” measures.
On Sunday, Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli hit back, saying the speech was “hysterical”.
“I respect the president very much, but his speech on Thursday was hysterical and did not contribute to calming things,” he added.
The plans include a new “override clause” that would allow parliament to re-legislate — by simple majority — laws that the Supreme Court rejects and give the government control over the selection of judges.
Other reforms include allowing ministers to select their own legal advisers, ending a previous arrangement whereby such counsel would come from the Justice Ministry.
About Tenderd
Started: May 2018
Founder: Arjun Mohan
Based: Dubai
Size: 23 employees
Funding: Raised $5.8m in a seed fund round in December 2018. Backers include Y Combinator, Beco Capital, Venturesouq, Paul Graham, Peter Thiel, Paul Buchheit, Justin Mateen, Matt Mickiewicz, SOMA, Dynamo and Global Founders Capital
Nancy 9 (Hassa Beek)
Nancy Ajram
(In2Musica)
The finalists
Player of the Century, 2001-2020: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Ronaldinho
Coach of the Century, 2001-2020: Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), Jose Mourinho (Tottenham Hotspur), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid), Sir Alex Ferguson
Club of the Century, 2001-2020: Al Ahly (Egypt), Bayern Munich (Germany), Barcelona (Spain), Real Madrid (Spain)
Player of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
Club of the Year: Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Real Madrid
Coach of the Year: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta), Hans-Dieter Flick (Bayern Munich), Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Agent of the Century, 2001-2020: Giovanni Branchini, Jorge Mendes, Mino Raiola
One in nine do not have enough to eat
Created in 1961, the World Food Programme is pledged to fight hunger worldwide as well as providing emergency food assistance in a crisis.
One of the organisation’s goals is the Zero Hunger Pledge, adopted by the international community in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Goals for Sustainable Development, to end world hunger by 2030.
The WFP, a branch of the United Nations, is funded by voluntary donations from governments, businesses and private donations.
Almost two thirds of its operations currently take place in conflict zones, where it is calculated that people are more than three times likely to suffer from malnutrition than in peaceful countries.
It is currently estimated that one in nine people globally do not have enough to eat.
On any one day, the WFP estimates that it has 5,000 lorries, 20 ships and 70 aircraft on the move.
Outside emergencies, the WFP provides school meals to up to 25 million children in 63 countries, while working with communities to improve nutrition. Where possible, it buys supplies from developing countries to cut down transport cost and boost local economies.
MATCH INFO
Manchester City 3 (Silva 8' &15, Foden 33')
Birmginahm City 0
Man of the match Bernado Silva (Manchester City)
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
