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Since late January, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been loudly protesting an impending judicial overhaul by the nation’s new right-wing government. The most controversial part of the proposal gives the Knesset, Israeli’s parliament, the power to overrule supreme court decisions with a simple majority vote, which means the nation’s top court would be unable to strike down objectionable laws. It would effectively, as one Israeli news report put it, “neuter” the court.

Opponents say the changes, if allowed, will “endanger the entire legal system” and cement the power grip of the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces a corruption charge. (The Knesset already has approved another rule stating that a prime minister may only be removed from office for physical or mental unfitness.) Since the changes were proposed, Israelis have taken to the streets en masse to register their displeasure. 

Tel Aviv on February 4.

Eyal Warshavsky/SOPA Images/Zuma

Protesters carry a huge Israeli flag on February 18.

Eyal Warshavsky/SOPA Images/Zuma

Mounted police in Tel Aviv confront a demonstrator on March 1.

Oded Balilty/AP

A scene from a “Day of Resistance” that brought out more than 200,000 protesters in Tel Aviv.

Matan Golan/SOPA Images/Zuma

Protesters block traffic on Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway on March 9.

Eyal Warshavsky/SOPA Images/Zuma

Protesters stormed the Jerusalem offices of the conservative Kohelet Policy Forum, a think tank that helped spearhead the judicial overhaul.

Ohad Zwigenberg/AP

Protestors face off with police on March 9.

Eyal Warshavsky/SOPA Images/Zuma

A night protest during Tel Aviv’s “Day of Resistance.”

 Oded Balilty/AP

A pro-democracy rally on March 11.

Eyal Warshavsky/SOPA/Zuma

Women dressed as handmaids from The Handmaid’s Tale to protest the reforms.

Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency/Getty

An aerial picture shows the size of protest crowds in Tel Aviv on March 11.

Jack Guez/AFP/Getty

A banner reads “civil disobedience” in Hebrew.

Jack Guez/AFP/Getty

Israeli forces detain a protester in Tel Aviv.

Jack Guez/AFP/Getty

Protesters confront police in Tel Aviv.

Gili Yaari/NurPhoto/Getty

A protest scene on March 4 in Tel Aviv.

Amir Levy/Getty

A nighttime rally on March 4 in Tel Aviv. 

Amir Levy/Getty

Mounted police officers clash with protesters in Tel Aviv on March 1.

Amir Levy/Getty

Near the Knesset in Jerusalem on February 20.

Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty

Lawmaker Ron Katz of the Yesh Atid opposition party protests inside the Knesset on February 13.

Yontan Sindel/AFP/Getty

Tens of thousands gather at Tel Aviv’s Habima Square on January 14.

 Eyal Warshavsky/SOPA/LightRocket/Getty

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

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