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Over a Hundred Thousand Israelis Protest Netanyahu Government
Over 100,000 marched in Tel Aviv against the government, in one of the biggest protests in Israel in many years
Jan 14, 2023
Tens of thousands of Israelis marched in central Tel Aviv and in two other major cities on Saturday night, protesting far rightwing PM Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to overhaul the legal system and weaken the Supreme Court — undermining democratic rule just weeks after his election.
Despite cold, rainy weather, marchers, many covered with umbrellas, held Israeli flags and placards saying “Criminal Government," “The End of Democracy,” and "We Are Preserving Our Shared Home." Netanyahu was guilty of a "legal putsch," read another.
Critics say Netanyahu's would cripple judicial independence, foster corruption, set back minority rights, and deprive Israel's court system of credibility.
Netanyahu and his ultranationalist security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered police to take tough action if protesters displayed Palestinian flags at Saturday’s protest. Social media footage showed a number of Palestinian flags on display in defiance of Netanyahu.
\u201cLive update: Tzipi Livni adresses anti-government protest in Tel Aviv: \u2018Nobody is above the law, not even the PM\u2019 https://t.co/LRqjToFYkN\u201d— TOI ALERTS (@TOI ALERTS) 1673726103
"Elections do not give anyone the power to destroy democracy itself," said former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni as she addressed the protest in Tel Aviv, adding that Israel's far-right government is "carrying out a political takeover of the country and waging a war against its democratic institutions."
"Spilled poison, lies, slandering one's brother, marking as an enemy anyone who thinks differently. [They are doing] everything so that we crumble from the inside and weaken as a society before the big attack," she said.
"We will stop you, and we will not compromise because democracy in Israel, our freedom and our rights are not political trade," Livni said. "They can call us traitors, but we are the ones who protect the motherland from them. They can threaten handcuffs – we are not afraid," she said.
\u201cReports say between 100-150k people protesters came to Tel Aviv to fight for democracy and against Netanyahu's attempts to change the legal system a la Hungary, so he can avoid the multiple legal cases he has against him.\u201d— Dr. Pinkeee\ud83d\udc69\u200d\ud83d\udcbb@DrPinkeee@assemblag.es (@Dr. Pinkeee\ud83d\udc69\u200d\ud83d\udcbb@DrPinkeee@assemblag.es) 1673728531
\u201cLightning illuminates the sky as protesters take part in a rally against the new government over reform plans for the country's judicial system in Tel Aviv, Israel, 14 January 2023. \ud83d\udcf7\ufe0f epa / Abir Sultan\n\n#Israel #protest #supremecourt #epaimages\u201d— EPA Images (@EPA Images) 1673719320
\u201cGood to see Israeli and Palestinian flags together. Demonstrating to preserve democracy in Israel.\u201d— Leon Rozewicz (@Leon Rozewicz) 1673724863
\u201cSeveral Palestinian flags were raised(raising a \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf8 was declared a criminal offence by new Israeli Gov) during tonight\u2019s protest in #Tel Aviv where more than 100k people are gathered to protest against the newly elected government. \n#\u05ea\u05dc \u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d1 \n#\u062a\u0644_\u0623\u0628\u064a\u0628\u201d— Unit 085 (@Unit 085) 1673726962
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In 'Act of Fascism and Supremacy,' Israel Bans Palestinian Flags in Public Spaces
"The Palestinian flag is not a symbol of terrorism but a symbol of revolution," said one advocate, "and that's why it's a threat to not only fascists like Ben-Gvir but everyone who supports Israel's apartheid regime."
Jan 09, 2023
After protests in which tens of thousands of Israelis marched "together against fascism and apartheid," Israel's far-right security minister on Sunday ordered police to tear down Palestinian flags wherever they are found in public.
Israeli Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, said in a statement that he directed Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai to implement the new policy, The Times of Israel reports.
"Banning our flag—like it once was—is pointless posturing and a dog whistle to supremacists. It will backfire spectacularly."
"It can't be that lawbreakers wave terror flags, incite and support terror, and therefore I have ordered that terror-supporting flags be removed from the public space," explained Ben-Gvir—who was convicted in 2007 of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organization after he advocated the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
Husam Zomlot, who heads Palestine's diplomatic mission to the United Kingdom, on Monday called the flag ban "repressive, racist, and childish."
"Grow up," Zomlot tweeted. "Banning our flag—like it once was—is pointless posturing and a dog whistle to supremacists. It will backfire spectacularly."
"Like the original ban, it will encourage instead our people and freedom-loving people everywhere to brandish the Palestinian flag," he added, referring to a previous prohibition that sparked widespread defiance and creative acts of resistance before it was lifted in 1993 under the Oslo Accords.
\u201cIn an act of fascism & supremacy, israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir bans the raising of the Palestinian flag \u2014 in its own country! #FreePalestine https://t.co/icAsoMtWMe\u201d— Sarah Wilkinson (@Sarah Wilkinson) 1673259883
Palestinian-American author and policy expert Yousef Munayyer tweeted Monday that "Israel holds an entire stateless nation under military occupation. They got enough nukes to start a regional conflagration. But they fear a piece of cloth."
On Monday, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh accused Israel's new far-right government of pursuing policies "aimed at toppling the [Palestinian National Authority] and pushing it to the brink financially and institutionally."
Referring to policies including the withholding of $40 million in Palestinian tax revenue and the flag ban, Shtayyeh added that "we consider these measures a new war against the Palestinian people, their capabilities and funds, and a war against the national authority."
More than 1 in 5 citizens of Israel are Arabs, most of them descendants of people who remained in Palestine after the modern state of Israel was founded there in 1948, largely through terrorism and ethnic cleansing targeting Palestinians and British occupiers.
\u201cThe Palestinian flag is not a symbol of terrorism but a symbol of revolution \u2014that\u2019s why it\u2019s a threat to not only fascists like Ben-Gvir but everyone who supports Israel\u2019s Apartheid regime\u201d— Farah-Silvana Kanaan (@Farah-Silvana Kanaan) 1673255120
Israeli courts have affirmed that flying Palestinian flags is not a crime. However, Israeli soldiers and police can remove the flags if they are deemed to pose a threat to public order.
In practice, Israeli occupation forces often target people carrying Palestinian flags during protests. Israeli police faced international condemnation after beating mourners and arresting people for raising Palestinian flags during the funeral procession for Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian-American Al Jazeera reporter killed by occupation forces last May.
Ben-Gvir's directive also followed the release last week of 66-year-old Karim Younis, widely described as the "oldest Palestinian political prisoner," after 40 years behind bars for killing an Israeli soldier in the illegally occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
\u201cIsrael's longest-serving Palestinian prisoner Karim Younis has been released from prison after serving 40 years for the killing of an Israeli soldier \u2935\ufe0f\n\n\ud83d\udd17: https://t.co/OYknHyHuMU\u201d— Al Jazeera English (@Al Jazeera English) 1673080491
According to The Times of Israel, Shabtai was reprimanded by Ben-Gvir for failing an order to prevent public celebration in Younis' village of 'Ara, where a jubilant crowd waved Palestinian flags and chanted liberation slogans to welcome the freed prisoner home.
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