Citing emergency landing, police urge protesters not to shut down Ben Gurion Airport

Police on Sunday vowed “zero tolerance” for blocking roads around Ben Gurion Airport by protesters against the government’s judicial overhaul, ahead of a planned demonstration there the next day that the force said it will limit to 5,000 people.

The move to cap the number of demonstrators was strongly denounced by protest organizers, who accused police of “intentionally harming the freedom of protest.”

Following an emergency plane landing overnight, which he called a “warning sign,” Central District Commander Avi Biton called on demonstrators to keep access roads at Ben Gurion Airport clear so emergency responders will not be hindered if a similar scenario occurs.

“Show responsibility so there won’t be a disaster that we all regret,” he said in a statement after meeting with police brass ahead of the rally.

(The plane, United Airlines flight UA91 heading out of Ben Gurion for Newark in the United States, had 339 people on board when roughly half an hour into the flight the pilots reported their concerns about a crack in a cockpit window and asked to turn back. Airport authorities declared an emergency situation and dozens of ambulances along with firefighters, police, and emergency services were summoned to the airfield. The plane landed safely.)

While stressing their commitment to uphold the freedom to protest, police warned protesters not to close roads or interfere with traffic.

“The police will allow the protest participants to demonstrate in the area, but will not allow the blocking of roads, and any attempt to disrupt traffic in the area and on bypass roads will be enforced will zero tolerance,” the police statement said.

Police also said travelers with flights scheduled for Monday should arrive at the airport early.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said Sunday that police officials warned him during a meeting earlier that day how “dangerous” any blockade of the airport could be.

“My policy and that of the government of Israel is clear: freedom of expression, protest, shouting – of course,” said Ben Gvir in a statement. “But blocking cities, blocking streets, paralyzing Ben Gurion Airport — this is a violation of national security. I expect police to enforce the law and ensure that there is no surrender to rioters and people who want to harm democracy.”

Later Sunday, Biton signed an order capping the protest at 5,000 demonstrators and restricting it to a designated area at Ben Gurion Airport. The order stressed that protesters were strictly prohibited from stepping onto roads or blocking them, slowing traffic or preventing entry to the airport.

In a defiant response to Biton’s order, organizers called on Israelis to flock “en masse” to the airport “to save democracy.”

“We won’t let anyone to harm the right to protest,” they said in a statement. “We will demonstrate as planned tomorrow outside Terminal 3. We will exercise our democratic rights and see that it’s the right of every Israeli to demonstrate against the dictatorship.”

Addressing Biton’s earlier statement, protest organizers dismissed his warning as “irrelevant to what we are planning.”

“We intend to arrive en masse at the airport and hold a demonstration outside the terminal,” they told Channel 12 news.

They also bashed Biton, saying it was the job of police to protect their freedom of speech and assembly, “not to harass demonstrators who are holding a nonviolent protest.

“The district commander should do his job,” the organizers added. “We are protesting everywhere, including the gateway to the country.”

The rally at Ben Gurion Airport was called last week as demonstrators vowed to intensify their actions in response to the government resuming legislative work on its judicial shakeup plans. The protests had appeared to lose steam during several months of now-frozen negotiations between coalition and opposition representatives.

Protest organizers, who have called on demonstrators to gather outside Terminal 3 at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, have said they chose the airport because it “symbolizes that Israel is a flourishing liberal and democratic nation.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who earlier this year was forced to take a helicopter to the airport to catch a flight abroad because demonstrators were blocking the roads, last week blasted the legal authorities for not prosecuting demonstrators who block access to the airport.

Netanyahu, along with Justice Minister Yariv Levin and far-right National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, also hit out last week at top law enforcement over demonstrations outside the homes of coalition lawmakers, calling for a more forceful response.

The protests, including weekly mass rallies held Saturday evening, have ramped up after Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee began deliberations on a bill to block justices from exercising judicial review over the “reasonableness” of government decisions.

Coalition figures have vowed to pass such legislation before the Knesset summer recess at the end of the month.

Netanyahu has stated that his government will also move later on to reshape the powerful Judicial Selection Committee, though he has added this will take a form different from Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s original plan to assert full political control over the process.