Police allow protesters into Golan community where Netanyahu is vacationing

After a two-day standoff, police on Tuesday allowed about two hundred anti-government protesters to march into the Golan Heights community of Neve Ativ and gather near the hotel where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vacationing with his wife Sara.

The couple arrived in the moshav on Monday night and are scheduled to remain there until Thursday, according to public broadcaster Kan.

Police closed off all entry to the moshav on Monday, leading to complaints from residents as well as activists, with the latter submitting two petitions to the High Court against the move.

Demonstrators slept in tents outside Neve Ativ on Monday night after police closed off the community, only allowing in residents and hotel guests.

Protest organizers quoted by Kan claimed that up to Tuesday morning, the authorities were also preventing further activists from joining their encampment and supplying them with food, water and shade.

But on Tuesday afternoon, the police decided to allow the demonstrators to move forward and gather some 300 meters from the hotel.

מפגינים בנווה אטי"ב | תיעוד @rubih67 https://t.co/70aLGhHqMH pic.twitter.com/IuS3ABIHbt

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) August 8, 2023

Moshav secretary Assaf Vankert told Kan that the community was under siege, since entrance gates were locked and farmers could not reach their fields.

“Security forces violated all the agreements we made with them,” he said. “We went to talk with the commanders of the ‘operations room’ near the hotel asking for help, to no avail.”

The protests are opposed to the government’s highly contentious judicial overhaul program, which would remove many of the High Court of Justice’s checks and balances over the government. The first law of the overhaul was passed in July, barring the court from striking down cabinet or ministerial decisions based on the doctrine of reasonableness.

Anti-overhaul demonstrations have regularly targeted members of the government with protests and heckling outside their homes and throughout the country at public and private events.

In March, demonstrators gathered outside Netanyahu’s hotel during his trip to London. In June, protesters disrupted a speech by Economy Minister Nir Barkat in New York City. Also in June, protesters following Knesset Constitutional Committee chairman Simcha Rothman in the streets of New York City caused the Religious Zionism lawmaker to lose his cool.

According to Channel 12 news, Netanyahu is not taking a vacation abroad because his recent pacemaker implant prevents him from air travel.

Michael Horovitz contributed to this report.