Israelis protest against the law prohibiting them from making demonstrations more than a mile (0. 6 miles) from their homes, a move that, according to the government, aims to reduce coronavirus infections (COVID-19) in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 3, 2020.
Ammar Awad / Reuters
Around 7 p. m. on Saturday, tens of thousands of people living in cities and towns across Israel protested to call for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu faces corruption rates in court, yet others are also angry at a new emergency law passed last week aimed at reducing the coronavirus that necessarily prohibits giant demonstrations or pandemic demonstrations.
Israel has become the first country in the world to implement a momentary national unemployment two weeks ago, and since then, coronavirus cases have soared to nearly 9,000 infections.
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Weekly protests opposing Netanyahu have been going on for more than 4 months. The main site of the protests was in the past in the Prime Minister’s apartment in Jerusalem, however, the new emergency law prohibits protesters from making demonstrations or demonstrations for more than a mile (about a mile) of their homes In response, some activists turned to WhatsApp, Facebook and even an interactive map to locate nearby demonstrations.
“[Netanyahu] only cares about himself and us. That’s why I’m here today. “
In the Tel Aviv suburb of Givatayim, Ittai Shaked, 49, joined an organization of more than 200 protesters, beating pots and pans and waving black flags. “[Netanyahu] only cares about himself and not about us. That’s why I’m here today,” Shaked said.
Shaked believes the new law crosses a line. “It made me feel bad because I don’t need to lose my right to protest,” Shaked said.
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Lior Vertheim, 33, would protest outdoors in the prime minister’s apartment in Jerusalem, about 68 kilometers (about 42 miles) from Givatayim, but as is now illegal, she protested Saturday night on the street from where she and her partner. .
A crowd of protesters gather near a police van in the suburb of Givatayim, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.
Ariel Oseran / The World
“We’re also in a WhatsApp organization and we also listen when there are other people here and we just got off,” Vertheim said. This happens once or twice a week. ” I hope those days happen more. “
Vertheim does not believe that the Israeli peak in COVID-19 cases is the real explanation for why to take strict action against demonstrations.
“It’s provocative because there’s no explanation for why, there’s no clever medical explanation for why or anything like that for blocking. It’s literally just political,” he said.
Many protesters express this sentiment.
Yohanan Plesner, president of israel’s Institute of Democracy, has doubts and said the prime minister’s resolve to suppress the protests opposed the recommendation of his own economic and fitness officials.
“The uniqueness of the restrictions in Israel is the point of severity and the fact that the Prime Minister made it so great in the fight against the pandemic. “
“The uniqueness of the restrictions in Israel is the point of severity and the fact that the Prime Minister made it so great in the opposite pandemic combat,” Plesner said.
He added that the economy is also suffering a heavy blow, restrictions have forced many small businesses to close, leading to protests against Netanyahu.
“It turns out that the only logical explanation is that he sought, in this way, to justify the serious restriction of the right to protest,” Plesner said.
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One of the biggest participations on Saturday night was in Habima Square in central Tel Aviv, where police put up barriers in advance to divide the thousands of protesters and bubble them, but this has virtually kept the protesters socially away.
As the crowd began to grow, arrests began. Le Monde saw a protester walk away from the crowd and put him in a police van. In a few moments, lots of protesters surrounded the van shouting “shame” as police dragged another protester. At the end of the night, 38 protesters were arrested. At one point, police handed out fines to protesters for violating the 1 mile rule, and several protesters said they were also fined for violating social est breach guidelines.
Lilach Sapir, owner of the now-closed Peacock Bar in Tel Aviv, joined Saturday’s protest and is one of the many national event organizers in the neighborhood.
Sapir told Le Monde that he had to delve into the circle of family economies just to make the end of the month. This is the case for many Israelis, he said, and that’s why other people are directing their anger toward Netanyahu.
“It started with a little message I posted on Facebook, saying that if we can’t have another 10,000 people in Balfour [the street where Netanyahu lives], then we’ll have 10,000 protest sites across Israel, every mile. . “
“It started with a little message I posted on Facebook, saying that if we can’t have another 10,000 people in Balfour [the street where Netanyahu lives], then we’ll have 10,000 protest sites all over Israel, each and every one. mile, ” said Sapir.
Sapir and other activists map weekly protests in the neighborhood online under the slogan “1 kilometer is. “He said he was looking for others to exercise their right to protest without breaking the law.
“[Israelis] perceive that he doesn’t care,” Sapir said. “He doesn’t deal with the economy. He’s been very sensible about [the economy]. That’s one of the things he knows how to do. “
Netanyahu, Israel’s most years-old minister, earned the nickname “Mr. “Economics “in the 1990s, but Plesner of the Israel Institute of Democracy said Netanyahu’s approval rating with the Israeli public had now fallen to 27 percent.
“They do not accept as true the effectiveness of the government that it does not appear to have put the right systems, policies and frameworks in position to deal with the crisis,” he said.
Plesner explains that there has been a dramatic drop in compliance with protection and fitness regulations, despite coronavirus restrictions. And with winter approaching, that means Israel may be in a state of blockade for a while.
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