Shikma Bressler: Protests will continue; coalition still intends ‘to enact Netanyahu’s dictatorship’

Dr. Shikma Bressler, one of the main leaders of the protest movement, says Netanyahu and his coalition colleagues are clearly determined to press ahead with their “dictatorship laws” in the next Knesset session, a month from now.

“The statements of the prime minister and his extremist partners are an admission of their intention to bring the dictatorship laws back to the table in the next parliamentary session, harming the economy and the security of the country,” she says.

“As long as the legislation continues and is not shelved, we will be on the streets.”

She calls Netanyahu’s announcement “just an attempt to weaken the protests in order to enact Netanyahu’s dictatorship. Now is not the time to reduce the pressure, but to increase it.”

A statement issued by the various groups organizing the protests also notes that the protests will continue.

“Netanyahu is not trustworthy,” they say. “He has proved to us that he cannot be relied upon. Therefore, so long as he’s only talking, and not acting, the protests continue. The protests will stop when we have established that there is a complete halt to the legislation.”

They say that they have always stressed that they support stopping the current legislation and reaching wide agreement on judicial reform via dialogue. “If we see that this is indeed happening, the protests will act accordingly.”

Channel 12 reports that tomorrow’s planned “Day of Paralysis” will not go ahead, but there will be “focused protests” nationwide and apparently outside ministers’ homes. This will be repeated for the rest of the week.

On Saturday night, there will again be mass protests on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street and nationwide, and these will continue for the foreseeable future “until there is real change.”