‘Day Of Disruption’: Roads Blocked, Clashes With Police As Israelis Protest Imminent ‘Judicial Coup’
Via Common Dreams
At least tens of thousands of Israelis on Tuesday took to the streets, shutting down highways, and marching through the country’s main international airport in a “day of disruption” after the nation’s far-right governing coalition advanced a deeply controversial overhaul of the legal system critics condemn as a “judicial coup.”
Demonstrators thronged the highways leading to cities including Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa, pitching tents, blocking roadways, and hanging banners from overpasses. At Ben Gurion International Airport near Lod, thousands of protesters defied police warnings and marched through the arrivals hall.
Israeli police said at least 66 people were arrested. Widespread police violence—including spraying water cannons at protesters, charging into crowds on horseback, and an attack on at least one journalist—was recorded and posted on social media.
Ami Eshed, Tel Aviv’s police commander, resigned last week due to what he claimed was political interference by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s far-right government and its desire to use excessive force to quash the ongoing pro-democracy protests. “I could have easily met these expectations by using unreasonable force that would have filled up the emergency room… at the end of every protest,” Eshed said on Israeli television.
Protesters—some of whom flew in from as far afield as the United States—represented a broad cross-section of Israel’s centre and left-wing; however, Israeli-American journalist Emily Schrader said on Twitter that she “saw dozens of people screaming” at demonstrators opposing the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine “to get out of the protest.” Speaking at a Tel Aviv protest, opposition leader Benny Gantz of the National Unity party said that “ultimately, the protests will block this judicial coup.” Gantz implored police to refrain from violence: “These are not enemies. You don’t use this force on citizens.”
One protester named Grace told Middle East Eye that she believes “Israel is deteriorating towards complete dictatorship and corruption, and we are trying to stop it. Whatever laws this government doesn’t like, it cancels, so all the power goes into government hands and away from the public.”
“The message we have for the government is no one here will agree to live in a dictatorship,” she added. “We are seeing an extreme government that wants to create an extreme country, and we don’t want that to happen. We are going to show them that the power of the people is stronger than that of the people in power.”
עימותים קשים בתל אביב: מכת״זית הופעלה לעבר המפגינים https://t.co/s0cjEwIepX
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) July 11, 2023
📸 דוברות המשטרה pic.twitter.com/aOz5W2kK28
Hundreds of Israel Defense Forces reservists specializing in cyberwarfare reacted to Monday’s parliamentary vote by announcing they would stop reporting for duty. “We will not continue to develop cyber capabilities for a criminal regime, and we will not train the future generation of offensive cyber,” the reservists said in a statement. “Our work cannot continue under such a severe legal and moral cloud.”
Hundreds of members of the women-led Bonot Alternativa movement rallied outside the U.S. consulate in Tel Aviv to protest the judicial bill, with another demonstration planned for Tuesday afternoon at the Israeli consulate in New York. “The Israeli government is destroying Israel as we know it—a Jewish and democratic state—it is harming the independence of the courts… banishing women from the public sphere, and harming our core democracy,” Bonot Alternativa said in a plea to U.S. President Joe Biden.
“The members of the ‘most extreme’ government, as President Biden put it, are attacking freedom of expression, the right to protest, and the rights of women and minorities,” the group added. “Don’t stand by. Don’t let the Jewish state be destroyed.”
The White House on Tuesday urged Israeli authorities to respect protesters’ rights. “As the administration has said, both U.S. and Israeli democracy are built on strong institutions, checks and balances, and an independent judiciary,” a U.S. National Security Council spokesperson told Haaretz.
“Democracy or Revolution. Never give up”.
— Or-ly Barlev ~ אור-לי ברלב (@orlybarlev) July 11, 2023
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צילום גיל לוין Gil Levin pic.twitter.com/WnkQig9GZw
