Thousands protest outside Knesset ahead of final votes on controversial judicial bill

Thousands of people rallied outside the Knesset on Wednesday to protest against the government, continuing a recent wave of demonstrations, as inside the building lawmakers prepared for final votes on a controversial judicial bill that has further stoked outcry.

The bill, which will change the composition of the judicial selection committee, has drawn harsh criticism from opposition lawmakers, who say that it will significantly damage Israel’s democracy. It comes amid an already heated reaction to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to resume fighting in Gaza and his moves to fire the head of the Shin Bet and attorney general.

Demonstrators marched through Jerusalem past the Supreme Court building to the Knesset. In the afternoon, some blocked Route 1 at the entrance to the capital, lighting flares on the road.

Demonstrations were also held in other parts of the country, including Tel Aviv.

Protest organizers said in a statement that the government “abandoned the hostages, is harming Israel’s security, and is passing aggressive and extreme legislation without batting an eyelid,” a reference to those who were abducted during the devastating Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel that opened the war.

“The government has declared war on the Israeli people,” the statement said and called on lawmakers to “join us in the streets and open offices with us in the street,” a move intended to symbolize their belief the Knesset is no longer home to the people’s choice.

Some did, sitting at desks under awnings put up for that purpose, while others came out of the parliament building to support the demonstration.

Labor MKs Gilad Kariv and Naama Lazimi, and Democrats MK Efrat Reitan all said they would set up office with the protesters.

Opposition National Unity leader MK Benny Gantz also went out to speak with the protesters.

In a post to X, Kariv wrote that he “opened my office outside the Knesset, along with my other colleagues and MKs, to stand shoulder to shoulder with the protesters and deliver a clear message [that] the people’s house no longer represents the people.”

“The majority of the people are disgusted by this government, the majority of the people are demanding the return of the hostages, the establishment of a state commission of inquiry [into the failures surrounding October 7], and the holding of elections,” he wrote.

On October 7, 2023, Palestinian terror group Hamas led some 5,000 attackers to invade southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 as hostages to the Gaza Strip.

Israel responded with a military campaign to destroy Hamas and save the hostages. A January ceasefire halted 15 months of fighting and saw the release of small batches of hostages. But the complex three-stage truce collapsed amid mutual accusations of violations and fighting resumed last week with Israeli strikes on Gaza. Since then terror groups have fired a number of rockets at Israel.

Addressing the crowds, opposition Yesh Atid MK Meirav Cohen accused Netanyahu of being “the best thing that has ever happened” to Israel’s enemies.

“Is this what Israel needs now?” she asked of the government’s judicial overhaul legislation. “We have hostages in tunnels, soldiers who are putting their lives in danger, reservists being called up for the fourth and fifth time — and the thing that Netanyahu is busy with — is creating control for himself over the judicial system, and dividing the nation at a time when we need to be united.”

“To tell the truth, Netanyahu is the best thing that has ever happened to our enemies,” Cohen continued. “He is the gift that keeps on giving. He has given cash to terrorists, he has weakened moderate forces, and worst of all — he has torn apart Israeli society and brought forth the [October 7] attack on us.”

Appearing to refer to Netanyahu’s reported efforts to mimic US President Donald Trump’s strategy of appointing only loyalists in positions of power, Cohen warned: “Israel is not the US and you are not Trump.”

“Here they send children into war, here they kidnapped the elderly in their pajamas, and here they abused young people at a party,” she said, highlighting the impact of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led terror onslaught and subsequent war in Gaza.

“If you don’t respect the High Court’s ruling, then the law has no more meaning, and the legislature has no more meaning, and civil obedience has no more meaning,” she warned apparently referring to a court injunction against the firing of the Shin Bet chief. “Don’t you dare take us there.”

National Unity MK Chili Tropper told the protest, “The campaign is not between those who support the coalition or those who oppose it, or between right or left. There is someone who wants to paint the campaign according to those divisions because it serves him, because like that it is possible to tear us apart a bit more.”

Yehuda Cohen, father of hostage Nimrod Cohen told the crowd that his son is in captivity because “Netanyahu is betraying the Israeli people, betraying the living and dead hostages, and the families of the hostages. Because this is how a gangster acts.”

The legislation debated in parliament would remove the two representatives of the Israel Bar Association currently on the nine-member Judicial Selection Committee, which makes all judicial appointments, and replace them with one lawyer to be directly chosen by the coalition and another chosen by the opposition.

Chair of the Israel Bar Association Amit Bahar spoke about the removal of the IBA seats on the judicial panel.

“They won’t break us, and they won’t break democracy,” he told the rally. “We will petition against the law.”

“This is a complete coup, which we warned of and against which we campaigned,” Bahar said.

An opposition filibuster was expected to keep the Knesset session on the judicial bill going through the night and into Thursday.

Protesters outside the Knesset set up a mock “Qatari embassy” featuring multiple people in white robes fanning themselves with money as Arabic music played in the background, in reference to the investigation into allegedly illicit ties between Doha and the Prime Minister’s Office. One demonstrator used ropes to control the arms of a person wearing a Netanyahu mask as if he were a marionette.

“Welcome to the Qatari embassy in Jerusalem,” they announced on a microphone.

The display was organized by Brothers in Arms, a prominent anti-government protest group.

“Firing the head of the Shin Bet in the middle of a war, in the midst of a significant security probe, and the attempt to push out the attorney general that opposed the firings is crossing a red line,” the group said in a statement.

“Instead of focusing on the hostages and the war with Hamas, the Israeli government is busy with getting rid of anyone who tries to probe the dangerous ties between those around the prime minister and those funding the enemy, said Oren Shvial a leader of the Brothers.

Protesters outside the Knesset set up a mock “Qatari embassy” featuring multiple people in white robes fanning themselves with money as Arabic music plays in the background. One demonstrator uses ropes to control the arms of a person wearing a Benjamin Netanyahu mask pic.twitter.com/qMhiGYfBsy

— Sam Sokol (@SamuelSokol) March 26, 2025

Hebrew media reported Tuesday that Netanyahu was warned at least twice before the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, that the terror group’s military chief Muhammad Deif was appropriating funds provided by Qatar to Gaza with the premier’s approval.

According to near-identical reports by Channel 12 and the Kan public broadcaster, Netanyahu was warned in 2019 by then-Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman and again in 2020 by the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate.

Under Netanyahu, Israel allowed millions in Qatari funds to be transferred to Gaza since 2018, with the aim of maintaining a fragile ceasefire with ethe nclave’s Hamas rulers.

Several of Netanyahu’s top aides are currently under investigation over alleged financial ties with Qatar, which is one of the mediators in the ceasefire and hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

There was a similar protest outside the Knesset on Tuesday.

The government fired Shin Bet head Ronen Bar last week with Netanyahu saying it was over his lack of trust in the security agency leader. Critics say the prime minister could now appoint a new spy chief who would close the probe into the Qatar ties.

The government is also moving to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who has repeatedly opposed coalition legislative moves, including the judicial appointments committee bill, which is part of a wider judicial overhaul she also opposes.