Protests against the Netanyahu government and the plan to weaken the judiciary were renewed on Saturday’s evening in Tel Aviv and dozens of towns and main junctions, for the 23rd week in a row, and several days before the selection of the judge appointment committee.
Tens of thousands demonstrated in the central demonstration on “Kaplan” Street in Tel Aviv, which included a minute of silence for the victims of the murders in the Arab community, after the death toll reached 95 since the beginning of the year until now.
“We have a clear and immediate danger ahead of us,” protest organizers said. “If the government takes control of the judge appointment committee, it will be surprised by the strength of the response.”
Protest organizers believed that only public protests would prevent the appointment of “ruled judges”.
In Caesarea, hundreds demonstrated in front of the hotel where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Justice Yarliv Levin met, amid the presence of reinforced police forces who prevented the demonstrators from approaching the hotel.
The demonstrators called on the Israeli Minister of Justice to come out and listen to them, and they said they chanted, “Levin, here is not Poland.”
In Beersheba, more than a thousand people demonstrated, including former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who called for an escalation of protests and civil disobedience.
Barak said, “Netanyahu’s project was passed in Poland and Hungary, but it will not pass here because we will continue to protest and we are not afraid of anyone or anything, nor will there be bargaining with anyone who tries to crush democracy.”
The Israeli police closed many streets, coinciding with the protests in Tel Aviv and several other towns and junctions.