Anti-Netanyahu protesters hold outdoor demonstrations at their official apartment on Balfour Street in Jerusalem, asking the prime minister to relinquiscam his corruption charges. There were also demonstrations opposed to Netanyahu’s economic policies during the coronavirus pandemic, albeit basically in Tel Aviv.
There have been occasional scenes of violence at recent demonstrations, and police are said to have distrusted the additional clashes. Demonstrators also accused police of using the protests above force.
Police estimated the number of protesters at 4,000, according to the Ynet news website. Protesters carried banners with slogans such as: “We will avoid fighting for the state”, “I have no other land” and “We are tired of corruption.”
Yotam, a 27-year-old student at the Hebrew University, said so the fourth time he attended anti-government demonstrations.
“I have the impression that this deceives us. They tell us a story that serves a guy in power,” Yotam said.
Noga, a Haifa local who now lives in Jerusalem, told the Times of Israel that the most vital thing for her now is that the country is unified.
“We can see that the custom of the government right now is dividing the country. That’s why it’s vital for me to be here,” Noga said.
The demonstration attracted a wide range of protesters, from hippies handing out flowers to a self-proclaimed Likud voter who opposes Netanyahu, to Hadash activists calling for an end to the West Bank’s Israeli military profession. One idea, however, seemed to unite all the protesters in the square: that the existing government does not remain in power.
“The ultimate thing is that this total government comes home. All? Yes, everyone,” said Nati, a 40-year-old Tel Aviv resident.
Several protesters at the demonstration took off their shirts and presented the symptoms with the words “photo of breasts greater than …” followed by words written on the chest, adding “occupation” and “police violence.” One of them held a sign calling for “Justice for Iyad,” referring to Iyad Halak, an autistic Palestinian killed by police in Jerusalem last May.
His act gave the impression of being encouraged by a protester who unleashed a firestorm when he cut off his blouse on Tuesday while on a statue of the menorah near the Knesset.
A small counter-demonstration was also held through Netanyahu’s supporters.
Among those who came here were members of the football hooligan club La Familia Beitar Jerusalem, Reports Hebrew media.
Haaretz reported that some anti-Netanyahu protesters said they had been attacked by gang members: “There were four other people from The Family who shouted ‘It’s a shame that Hitler didn’t finish the job’ and ‘You don’t deserve like Bibi, you deserve like Hitler. Then a bigger organization came up to me and I started filming them, took me and dropped my phone,” said a left-wing activist.
A video shared through Channel 13’s Tal Shorrer also showed the band making a fulfilled song by assassin Yitzhak Rabin Yigal Amir.
– Tal Shorrer (@TalShorrer) 23 July 2020
Police had allowed the protests to continue until 11 p.m., and acting police chief Motti Cohen urged the parties to “maintain a demonstration free of violence and riots and respect police instructions.”
The two crowds were separated by several hundred meters, with a giant number of policemen on the spot separating them and the prime minister’s apartment on Balfour Street. The streets around the protests were blocked from traffic.
Netanyahu told protesters at a news convention Thursday night about the coronavirus, which made the demonstration: “Do not drag the state into anarchy, violence and destruction of property. Do not drag him into attacks on police; they’re doing their job.”
Protests against Netanyahu have been going on for several years, led by an organization of older demonstrators, but in recent weeks they have attracted a younger cohort. The currency crisis and the rise in unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic appear to have encouraged other young people to sign up for their elders on the streets.
Amir Haskel, a former Israeli air force general who has a prominent figure in the protests against Netanyahu, told Ynet: “Tonight’s demonstration is a youth demonstration. We expect a lot from this and hope that the demonstration will end without violence.” »
The organizers said in a statement: “Thousands of young protesters are not victims of the coronavirus, they are victims of the corruption [of the government] of Benjamin Netanyahu.”
The protests opposed to Netanyahu, which organizers have dubbed the “Balfour siege,” were near the last week.
Events ranged from a carnival atmosphere, with circus performers and meditation circles, and violence, adding a debatable incident Tuesday night in which a police officer filmed and photographed nailing his knee into a protester’s neck.
The developing coronavirus crisis in Israel and the economic effects of its wave so far have increased tensions in the country and a sharp drop in Netanyahu’s approval rate.