Anti-overhaul protesters converge outside hotel where ministers attend conference

NEW YORK — After New York’s Celebrate Israel Parade wraps up, the coalition lawmakers who attended head to a conference at a hotel in Manhattan.

Hundreds of anti-government demonstrators gather outside. The protesters shout “Shame” and “Democracy” and brandish Israeli flags. Many wear shirts from the ex-pat activist group UnXeptable.

Speakers describe their fears of the coalition’s judicial overhaul for Israel’s future. The demonstrators mock MK Simcha Rothman, one of the overhaul’s key players, after he seized a megaphone from a protester in New York on Friday.

In a Hebrew rhyme, the crowd sings, “Poor, poor Rothman, even in New York he’s freaking out. Rothman, Rothman calm down, the megaphone is not so bad.”

A group of protesters dress as characters from The Handmaid’s Tale, a common motif from the rallies in Israel. Others carry signs calling for “freedom, democracy, equality.”