In Israel, police fired tear gas and stun grenades Wednesday at thousands of people who had blocked a highway in Tel Aviv to protest plans by the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu to gut Israel’s judiciary. Eleven Israelis were hospitalized with injuries. It was the first time during weeks of mass protests that police used large-scale violence against Israeli citizens. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, dozens of protesters dressed as “handmaids” from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” rallied outside Israel’s Supreme Court Wednesday.

Adi Agasi Shafir: “Basically, it feels like we can say goodbye to democracy, because, on one hand, the Knesset will have the ability to pass any law they want; on the other hand, the court will not have the ability to stop anything like that. Any court that would hurt, whether women or LGBTs or any other minority, is going to pass with no one to stop it.”