Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Monday, March 27, 2023

‘We won’t give up’: Tens of thousands outside Knesset as rally kicks into high gear

By Carrie Keller-Lynn 27 March 2023, 3:09 pm 0 Edit

Carrie Keller-Lynn is a political and legal correspondent for The Times of Israel

Protest organizer Shikma Bressler at a rally against the government's planned judicial overhaul outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 27, 2023. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

Protest organizer Shikma Bressler at a rally against the government's planned judicial overhaul outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 27, 2023. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

Holding an Israeli flag high about her head, key anti-overhaul protest organizer Shikma Bressler leads the crowd of tens of thousands at the Knesset gates in chanting: “We won’t give up!”

Bressler was arrested at a protest last week and was later released.

Former IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz says: “Remember March 27, 2023.”

“It’s the day that you succeeded in stopping Israel from becoming a dictatorship,” he says.

“Our goal is to reach agreements, but not be destroyed,” he says of Israeli society, expressing his wish to continue protests until an agreed-upon judicial reform solution is reached.

As the protest kicks into high gear, a protester faints, interrupting Halutz’s speech as the police rush into the crowd to help.

“The police are our brothers,” some demonstrators start to cheer.