‘It’s all because of Netanyahu’: Protester urges ruling party to replace PM

Ofer Burin, a former colonel in the IDF protesting against the government outside the Knesset, lays the blame for the current societal upheaval squarely at the door of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“This started with some cigars and now we’re defending democracy,” he says in reference to Netanyahu’s trial on charges of illegally receiving gifts from wealthy business tycoons in return for regulatory actions benefiting them.

“That’s the situation. It’s all because of Netanyahu, it’s like [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich said, he’s a ‘lying son of a liar.’ That’s his legacy. The Likud party needs to put him aside and then we can talk. You can’t talk with someone you don’t trust,” says Burin, who lives in Herzliya.

“My parents made aliyah from Argentina. I am happy they are in the grave already so they don’t have to see what’s happening here now, and I am here to make sure we don’t end up with a dictatorship like they had in Argentina for seven years.”

“All the world is a narrow bridge and the most important thing is not to be afraid at all”
Outside the Knesset right now… pic.twitter.com/h6sFgaLu73

— Jeremy Sharon (@jeremysharon) March 27, 2023