At Likud ’emergency rally,’ Netanyahu supporters rail against prosecutors

Several hundred Israelis gather at the Tel Aviv Expo convention center for an “emergency rally” organized by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, in light of what he claims is the growing possibility that political rival Benny Gantz will form a minority government reliant on the outside support of the majority-Arab Joint List.

But while the rally is meant to raise public awareness regarding what Netanyahu claims is the danger of such a minority government, over a dozen attendees who speak to The Times of Israel say they are far more disturbed by the State Prosecutor’s Office’s conduct in the criminal probes against the premier.

“What the prosecution is doing to Bibi is simply unbelievable. They put a target on him the moment he entered office and will stop at nothing to take him down,” says Tal Shafrir.

The 64-year-old Ramat Aviv resident has written the letter “B” on each of her hands along with several of her friends in a show of support for Netanyahu, whose nickname is “Bibi.”

Many attendees wave Israeli and Likud flags as well as signs calling for the jailing of Deputy State Prosecutor Liat Ben Ari and the interrogation of State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan.

As they wait for Netanyahu to take the stage, members of the audience chant “Bibi, king of Israel, long may he live” and “the people demand legal justice.”

— Jacob Magid

Supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Tel Aviv Expo convention on November 17, 2019. (Jacob Magid/Times of Israel)