Former Likud voter attends rally outside Knesset to ‘stop this crazy legislation’

Hadar Rozenman attends a protest against the government’s judicial overhaul outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 27, 2023. (Jeremy Sharon/Times of Israel)

Speaking at the anti-government protest outside the Knesset, Hadar Rozenman from Tel Aviv says she has come to the demonstration to “fight for democracy and stop this crazy legislation,” which she says is threatening the foundations of the country.

“These are the first of many small steps at the end of which we’ll lose our democracy and become a dictatorship,” says Rozenman.

“We can already see this happening with all these personal laws which are for Netanyahu’s benefit. That’s what dictators do,” she continues, referring to a bill to allow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept large cash gifts to fund his legal bills for his criminal trials, and a bill to allow Shas leader Aryeh Deri to return to the cabinet after the High Court banned him from ministerial office in January due to his prior criminal convictions.

Rozenman rejects labeling the protest movement as left-wing, pointing out that many in the protest movement are from the right, and stating that she had voted for the Likud party until 2019.

“We can have legal reform but you don’t do a reform when you had 12 years to do it and then do a reform in a couple of months in order to get someone appointed minister again after they were convicted of crimes, or to pass the ‘legal gifts’ law,” says Rozenman.