Thousands of Israelis demonstrated in central Tel Aviv on Saturday night to express their opposition to the policies of the ruling coalition of right-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, which they fear are drifting anti-democratically.
The protesters are rallying around slogans calling for “saving democracy” and preventing the “overthrow of the regime” at the call of an anti-corruption organization, which have been in force in Israel since the country’s founding in 1948.
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Center and left-wing parties, as well as the Hadash Taal alliance of Arab parties, had called on the Israelis to demonstrate, in particular against the judicial reforms presented on January 4 by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which has been accused of corruption in several cases.
Because of these affairs, they are also demanding the resignation of the head of government. There are also other malcontents: opponents of Israeli colonization in the West Bank or LGBTQ defense movements concerned about the presence of openly homophobic ministers in the government.
The atmosphere is good-natured, many Israelis came with their families despite the rain, AFP journalists noted.
The signs held up by the protesters gathered in Habima Square reflected the diversity of demands: “The time has come to overthrow the dictator”, “Government of shame”, “There is no democracy with the occupation”, “Bibi wants not democracy, we don’t need fascists in the Knesset’, ‘Iran is here’, ‘You will love others as yourself’ written in Hebrew and Arabic.
The demonstration’s instigator, the Black Flag Movement, had backed a long-running campaign of protests against Mr Netanyahu from July 2020 to June 2021 to demand his resignation over the corruption scandals he is implicated in.
Mr Netanyahu, leader of the Likud, the major party of Israel’s right-wing, and holder of the record for longevity at the head of the Israeli government, was ousted from power in 2021 in a colorful electoral coalition that lasted less than a year.
In late December, he took the helm of a new government following November’s parliamentary elections, the fifth in four years, the results of which testify to the fragmented electorate and the internal divisions of Israeli society.
Several speakers must follow each other on the stands in front of the demonstrators on Habima Square. Among them was former Secretary of Defense Benny Gantz (centre-right), who tweeted on Friday “calling on all Israeli people, left and right, to come and demonstrate for the preservation of Israeli democracy.” “It’s a civic duty of the first order,” he added.