Israel: Benjamin Netanyahu protests put political divides back on show

Monday, 01 April 2024 - 12:46 | Views - 197

Israel's deep political divisions are back on public display.

They were put to one side for a while, as shock and national unity followed the 7 October attacks by Hamas - but six months later, thousands of protesters are once again on Israel's streets.

The war has turbocharged their determination to unseat Israel's longest-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In Jerusalem, police used skunk water - a foul-smelling substance fired from water cannon - to clear protesters who had blocked the Begin Boulevard, the city's major north-south highway.

Well-worn slogans demanding his resignation and early elections were amplified by newer ones calling for an immediate deal to free about 130 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. An unknown number of them are presumed dead.

The big fear of their families and friends, as well as the protesters, is that many more will die the longer the war drags on without a deal.

On Sunday evening, as thousands packed the broad avenues around the Israeli parliament, Katia Amorza - who has a son serving in the Israeli army in Gaza - put down her megaphone for a moment.

"Since eight this morning, I'm here. And now I'm telling Netanyahu that I would be glad to pay one way ticket, first class, for him to go out and not come back anymore.

"And I'm telling him also to take with him all those people that they put in the government that he chose one by one, the worst, the worst that we have in our society."

A rabbi crossed the road past Katia and her megaphone. It was Yehudah Glick, who campaigns for Jewish prayer in the area Israelis call the Temple Mount, the site in Jerusalem of Islam's third holiest mosque, al Aqsa.

Rabbi Glick said the protesters have forgotten that their real enemy is Hamas, not prime minister Netanyahu.

"I think he's very popular. And that's what aggravates these people. I think these people, are not willing to forgive the fact that for so long they've been demonstrating against him and he's still in power.

"And I'm calling upon them to demonstrate, to come and demonstrate, speak loud and clear what they feel, but to be careful not to cross the very thin line between democracy and anarchy."

The protesters, and Mr Netanyahu's critics in countries that otherwise support Israel, believe the enemies of democracy are already in his government, a coalition that depends on the support of ultranationalist Jewish parties.

Among them is the Religious Zionism party, led by the finance minister Bezalel Smotrich. One of its MPs, Ohad Tal, said it was "naïve" to believe anything other than more military pressure on Hamas would free the hostages.

"You don't think Hamas will bring back so easily the hostages in a deal, release everybody and then will allow us to, you know, to kill all the terrorists that we would release in such a deal...It's not as simple.

"If there was a button that you can press and bring back all the hostages and make everything okay, every Israeli would press this button. But it's not as easy as you may think."

Benjamin Netanyahu used to say he was the only one who could keep his country safe. Many Israelis believed him.

Share This Article