Rothman says anti-government protests at NYC Israel rally will destroy Diaspora ties

Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman, a key architect of the government’s controversial judicial overhaul plans, condemns plans to protest coalition lawmakers at New York’s annual Celebrate Israel Parade.

“To the leaders of the protest against Israel’s democratically elected government, I say today: Is it not enough that you worked to damage critical unity among our fighting forces, and have both incited to and committed violence in Israel?” Rothman says.

He says protests at Sunday’s parade, in which he plans to march, will be “yet another violation of an important Jewish and democratic value.”

He calls on President Isaac Herzog “to condemn the organizations who stand ready to destroy the State of Israel’s most important relationship with world Jewry just to gain points in a domestic political struggle.”

The protesters, part of a network of Israeli activists called UnXeptable, oppose the government’s judicial overhaul plans and have been holding regular rallies in and around New York City since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government announced the proposals earlier this year.

Organizers said they have collected information on 10 lawmakers who are visiting New York for the parade.