Protestors Vow to Continue as Coalition Lawmakers Dismiss Tel Aviv Rally

On Saturday night, there was a huge demonstration in Tel Aviv against the new government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the protestors vowed to continue holding the rallies.

Even though it was pouring rain, more than 80,000 protestors had gathered at the Habima Square in Tel Aviv for denouncing the plans of the new government to make changes to the justice system in Israel.

Jerusalem and Haifa had also held similar protests

Crime Minister

Crime Minister was one of the groups that organized the demonstrations and it said that the coming weeks would see the protests continue.

After the event on Saturday night, the group said that they had only gotten started and it would take time. They said that people should not make plans for Saturday because they were going to continue.

The group also directed a message at Netanyahu and called him out for thinking that he would be able to take the justice system apart just so he could avoid going to prison.

It was not just Crime Minister that supported the demonstrations on Saturday. Other activist groups also backed the protests, including the Black Flags and Ein Matzav (No Way).

The participants

Weekly protests had been organized by the three groups and others back in 2020, which demanded resignation from Netanyahu because of allegations of corruption.

These rallies had taken place every Saturday night for a period of six months. Other organizations have also endorsed the ongoing protests against the new government.

These include the Kibbutz Movement, the Movement for Quality Government and the Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel.

Benny Gantz, the leader of the National Unity Party and had served as the defense minister in the previous government, attended the rally on Saturday and said that they would continue fighting against the judicial overhaul.

Continued protests

The former defense minister said that they would continue their fight against the reforms and coup of the new regime, as long as everyone was in agreement.

Merav Michaeli, the leader of the Labor party, said that they were not scared of the rain and they would not let the new government destroy their democracy.

Yair Golan, the former Meretz MK, also added that protesting weekly would not be enough. He said that they had to kick things up a notch.

The MK said that until they paralyze economic life, until they block roads and availability of services, it is unlikely that the new government would take them seriously.

Golan said that the struggle would be difficult and bitter, but they would be able to win only through perseverance, courage and determination. He added that they had to save the country.

The protests were not taken seriously by Netanyahu or his allies. In fact, accusations of biased coverage were also made against the media.

Bezalel Smotrich, the Finance Minister, said that the media had opted to neglect protests against the previous government.

However, those protests had not approached the scale of the rally conducted in Tel Aviv on Saturday night.