Organizer of Tel Aviv protest claims 10,000 people at rally, 10x the cap set by Supreme Court

Tel Aviv’s Habima Square is packed with protesters against the government as well as the wars in Iran and Lebanon.

Organizer Alon-Lee Green, of the binational socialist outfit Standing Together, claims there are 10,000 people at the rally, ten times the cap set by the Supreme Court amid the threat of missiles.

However, dozens of cops who are present haven’t made any arrests or otherwise acted against the protesters, including several dozen communist youth activists chanting “every cop is a fascist, every soldier a terrorist” along the southern edge of the square, in front of several police vehicles.

Along the square’s western edge, about 200 people stand in silence as they hoist candles and pictures of children killed by Israel in Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank and Iran.

Across the square, speaking from atop a platform, MK Ayman Odeh, head of the Arab-majority communist party Hadash, assails opposition parties for failing to present a “moral alternative” to the government.

“I believe that you don’t need Jewish-Arab partnership for war, but you need Jewish-Arab partnership for peace,” he says. “We have a problem, which is that we have a weak opposition that doesn’t offer a moral alternative to the government. The moral alternative to this government is peace.”

Protesters cheer and chant, in Arabic, “Peace, freedom, social justice.”