From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Netanyahu compares Israeli anti-government protest movement to ‘mobocracies’ on US campuses
In an interview with CNBC released earlier today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compares the anti-government protest movement in Israel to the pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests that have erupted on US college campuses in recent weeks.
Asked if he believes he still has the backing of the majority of the Israeli public, over seven months on from the October 7 Hamas massacre and the start of the war in Gaza, Netanyahu says that “you can go on the streets and see the vast support that is there,” for his government.
“You won’t know it, because everyone’s fixated on these protests,” he says of the weekly demonstrations in favor of a hostage deal and early elections that attract thousands in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and across Israel each week.
“But they don’t reflect the majority of the people any more than the mobocracies in American campuses,” Netanyahu says, drawing a comparison between the two. “These protesters, these mobs, do they reflect the majority of the American people? No. Well it’s the same thing here,” he adds.
“The majority of the people here support a victory, they want to see a victory, they want to see Hamas removed because they understand that their very future is on the line,” Netanyahu adds.
???? Netanyahu compares Israelis protesting his government/lack of hostage deal to pro-Pales. campus protesters.
“These protests.. don't reflect the majority of the people anymore than the mobocracies in American campuses.. do they reflect the majority of the American people? No.” pic.twitter.com/vNyavFpAWb
— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) May 15, 2024
The protests calling for early elections and the demonstrations in favor of a hostage deal have increasingly merged in recent months as the mass anti-government protests that were a weekly event before October 7 slowly picked up momentum once more.
The protests frequently feature speeches from family members of Hamas hostages, some of whom have accused Netanyahu of blocking a hostage deal for political reasons.
The protests for the hostages are organized and led by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an umbrella body founded on behalf of the families of 252 people abducted from Israel on October 7.
The anti-Israel campus protests in the US were the result of a wave of unrest that saw students set up encampments with calls for the school to cut ties with Israel and any businesses that support it.
Students and others on campuses whom law enforcement authorities have identified as outside agitators have taken part in the protests from Columbia University in New York City to UCLA.
Netanyahu previously compared the anti-Israel protests in the US to “what happened in German universities in the 1930s,” under Nazi rule.
Agencies contributed to this report.
