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Netanyahu's Entourage Blames US for Funding Judicial Reform Rallies: Report

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Officials traveling with the Israeli prime minister told an Israeli online newspaper that Washington has been suspected of funding mass protests against Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial reforms that have been rocking the country for over two months.
Sputnik
A senior government official accompanying Netanyahu on his trip to Italy told the daily this week that the protests seemed to be well organized and amply funded with what he estimated to be millions of dollars.
"We are following what is happening. This is a very high-level organization. There is an organized center from which all the demonstrators branch out in an orderly manner," the unnamed official was quoted as saying.
He said it was "clear to us" who was paying for the transportation of thousands of protesters as well as all the flags and stages, while another member of Netanyahu's entourage confirmed to the paper that the senior official was referring to the United States.
Separately, Netanyahu's son Yair shared an article from the right-wing website Breitbart that claimed the US State Department was funding one of the groups involved in the protests.
Half a million protesters reportedly rallied nationwide on Saturday night to demand that Netanyahu's hard-right government go back on its decision to shake up the judiciary. The reform seeks to curtail the Supreme Court's power to review and strike down laws that it rules to be unconstitutional.
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