Activists gather outside Knesset to protest updated 2024 budget

Demonstrators in front of the Knesset protest the government's revised 2024 budget on February 19, 2024. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)
Demonstrators in front of the Knesset protest the government's revised 2024 budget on February 19, 2024. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

A few hundred people gather in front of the Knesset to protest the government’s newly amended 2024 budget, which critics say allocates funds to coalition-linked interests while slashing monies for broader society.

Protesters are also calling for immediate elections to replace Benjamin Netanyahu and for the return of the hostages who remain captive in Gaza.

Ronit Harpaz, an entrepreneur in Israel’s high-tech industry speaking onstage to the crowd, decries the Netanyahu-led government for giving “no money to displaced Gaza envelope residents, but rather to the hilltop youth” – a reference to activist settlers.

Law enforcement is keeping the demonstration under tight security with two layers of barricades separating the protest from the parliamentary building. Anti-government demonstrators successfully blocked the Knesset access road multiple times last month.

Most Popular