Masses protest overhaul, with toned-down Tel Aviv rally in shadow of terror attack
Organizers coordinate with police, don’t play music or try to block roads as over 100,000 demonstrate in city shortly after fatal shooting; tens of thousands protest elsewhere
Michael Bachner is a news editor at The Times of Israel
Masses rallied nationwide Saturday evening for the 31st consecutive week against the government’s attempt to overhaul the judiciary, with the main rally in Tel Aviv being held in the shadow of a fatal Palestinian terror attack in the city that took place just as the demonstrations were beginning.
Some 105,000 people were estimated by Channel 13 — citing the CrowdSolutions firm — to have attended the main rally at Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street, which began following a march from Kikar Dizengoff that started at 7 p.m. — around when the shooting attack took place elsewhere in the city.
Tel Aviv municipal security officer Chen Amir, 42, was shot and killed by a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group after the terrorist raised officers’ suspicion in the bustling Nachalat Binyamin neighborhood. The terrorist was shot dead by Amir’s colleague, and a senior police source was later quoted by the Ynet news site as saying the gunman had possibly planned to target the anti-overhaul protesters at Kaplan.
In light of the attack, protest organizers held the mass rally as planned, with increased police presence and without music being played from the loudspeakers during the demonstration. They also didn’t move to block roads, as they have in most weeks after the rally — in order to not complicate access for the security forces and emergency services in the attack’s aftermath.
“Even in difficult and painful moments, it is our duty to keep fighting for Israeli democracy,” organizers said in a statement. “The regime coup harms national security and the Israeli society’s resilience.”
The demonstration at Kaplan began with the national anthem, Hatikva, which was sung by veteran rock artist Yehudit Ravitz, who hasn’t performed on stage in years.
The rallies were also taking place amid Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s continued refusal to confirm he would adhere to a potential court ruling striking down the reasonableness law, and as members of the hard-right government have increasingly turned up the heat on legal advisers and other professionals, claiming these have been hindering the implementation of the government’s policies.
Keren Terner Eyal, former director-general of the finance and transportation ministries, told protesters: “I’ve worked in the public service for 16 years, mostly under Likud governments. I acted out of a sense of mission to fulfill the policies of the elected governments.”
קפלן
קרדיט: אמיר גולדשטיין pic.twitter.com/Oeb9ztFKBX— ????️????????ShAuLi (@Shaulirena) August 5, 2023
She then turned to address Netanyahu: “You’ve changed. Your aggressive and destructive style has become commonplace in the entire public service. Coalition ministers are constantly engaged in incitement and divisiveness, slander and nepotism. Under you, ministers have begun a new policy of attacking professionals and crushing those responsible for checks and balances. I’m sure you’re ashamed too.
“The public service is in an unprecedented crisis,” Terner Eyal added, claiming that ministers are appointed inexperienced and inadequate political loyalists to key professional positions, causing other professionals to quit en masse.
Other rallies were held in about 150 other locations around the country, including thousands near Netanyahu’s private residence in Jerusalem as well as thousands in Haifa, Herzliya, Netanya, Hod Hasharon, Rehovot and many other cities.
הערב הונף ברחוב עזה בירושלים, סמוך למעון הרודן @netanyahu –
דגל פריסה של @maridimisrael בעיצוב שלי. עם מסר מיוחד ל- @POTUS:It’s just a minor correction ????
Don’t believe him!
Don’t call him!
Don’t invite him!
Don’t normalize dictatorship!
צילום רחפן: חומי פוזנר pic.twitter.com/5ayZvPULm1— Oran Adler ????️????.???????? (@OranAdler) August 5, 2023
The protests even reached the neighboring island of Cyprus, where National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir — who is in charge of police and has consistently urged more forceful treatment toward anti-overhaul protesters — spent the weekend.
Photos published on social media showed dozens of Israelis demonstrating during Shabbat near where Ben Gvir was staying in the city of Paphos.
שר הפיתות, הזמנת משלוח לפאפוס? מחכים לך בחוץ. נרדוף אתכם לכל מקום! pic.twitter.com/G36X3Uj3ml
— Ami Dror ???????? עמי דרור (@AmiDror) August 4, 2023
פאקן פאפוס קפריסין❤️???????????????? ובוער לישראלים שגרים שם או בחופש להפגין נגד ממשלת החורבן כי בן גביר הגיע והם לא יכולים להמשיך בשלהם. לעומת זאת להפגנה בת"א בקפלן הנאשם היה צריך להביא באוטובוסים מתנחלים כי למרות שיש עשרות אלפי מצביעי ליכוד שגרים בת"א הם לא יצאו מהבית. להפיל את הנאשם. pic.twitter.com/kFBXk5A6kE
— Itai Leshem (@Itai_Leshem) August 5, 2023
Back in Israel, Economy Minister Nir Barkat of Netanyahu’s Likud party was heckled by several anti-overhaul protesters while dining at a restaurant in Tel Aviv.
Video showed the demonstrators chanting “Nir Barkat is trampling Shabbat,” seeming to mock him for dining at a non-kosher establishment on the Jewish day of rest while being part of a coalition with numerous religious factions. They also chanted: “Israel is still not Iran.”
A security guard could then be seen accompanying Barkat to a car as he left the scene.
השר ברקת שהה במסעדה לא כשרה בתל אביב – מפגינים הגיעו למקום: "ניר ברקת רומס את השבת" pic.twitter.com/X7UFjml0ia
— ynet עדכוני (@ynetalerts) August 5, 2023
MK Yulia Malinovsky, of the right-wing opposition party Yisrael Beytenu, said protest organizers had canceled her speech at an anti-overhaul rally in Yavne due to her cosponsorship of a law that makes terrorist, nationalist or racist motivations an aggravating factor in crimes of sexual harassment and sexual assault.
“I am proud of this law and no one will cause me to be disloyal to my internal truth and values,” Malinosky wrote on Twitter. “There is no contradiction between me being a right-wing liberal Zionist woman and my fight against this evil government.”
In a statement earlier Saturday, protest leaders charged Netanyahu was trying to destroy the rule of law by potentially bringing about a constitutional crisis.
“Netanyahu, in a malicious campaign, is trying to bring a constitutional crisis that will lead to the destruction of the rule of law in Israel. If a government does not accept the rulings of the Supreme Court, this is a signal to all criminals that they can do whatever they want,” the statement read.
“Israel is in the middle of complete shambles where there is a public debate in which senior ministers say they will not obey the court’s rulings,” the protest leaders said.
“In the face of destruction and devastation, we will show up in the hundreds of thousands this 31st week to stop the disintegration of the country. Our hope is not yet lost,” the statement concluded, quoting the national anthem.
Last week, lawmakers approved a bill that prevents judges from striking down government and ministerial decisions on the basis they are “unreasonable.”
The law was approved by all 64 coalition members — with the entire 56-strong opposition boycotting the vote — despite the sustained mass protests, vehement opposition from top judicial, security, economic and public figures, repeated warnings from allies, chief among them the US, and thousands of military reservists vowing to quit service.
Critics of Netanyahu’s hardline government say removing the standard of reasonability opens the door to corruption and improper appointments of unqualified cronies to important positions.
Petitions against the law have been filed to the High Court, with an unprecedented 15-judge panel to hear them next month.
In recent interviews with US media on the reasonableness law, the prime minister has repeatedly refused to say whether he would adhere to a potential ruling in which the High Court of Justice strikes down a Basic Law, and warned the court against doing so. Other members of his Likud party have said such a ruling would be respected, but would nevertheless cause a crisis in the country.
On Thursday, the High Court of Justice asserted in no uncertain terms that it views a recently passed law blocking the court from ordering the prime minister to recuse himself as a highly personal piece of legislation, and implied that it is considering an explosive ruling which would delay implementation of the law. It is unclear when a ruling will be handed down.
In addition, many members of the hard-right, religious coalition have called on the government to push ahead with the rest of its judicial overhaul plans, which include giving the ruling majority near-complete power to appoint judges, and radically limiting the court’s oversight of legislation.
The hardline government’s legislation and planned bills have split the nation and triggered the biggest protest movement in Israel’s history, which has offered no indication that it plans to fold.
Critics accuse Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges, of trying to use the overhaul to quash possible judgments against him. He rejects the accusation as well as the legitimacy of the charges against him.
Netanyahu’s hardline coalition government, which includes far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, argues that the proposed changes to the judiciary are needed to ensure a better balance of power between elected officials and judges.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
