THOUSANDS OF ISRAELIS PROTEST IN TEL AVIV AGAINST NETANYAHU’S NEW GOVERNMENT (VIDEO)

Sun 08 January 2023:

Thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets, to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government’s plans, which they claim endanger democracy and freedom.

The protesters gathered in the city of Tel Aviv on Saturday, days after the most right-wing and religiously conservative government in the country’s 74-year history, was sworn in. It plans sweeping reforms, from expanding illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, to weakening the power of the judiciary.

Protesters brandished signs with slogans including “Democracy in danger” and “Together against fascism and apartheid”.

Another banner read, “Housing, Livelihood, Hope.” Some protesters carried rainbow flags.

The protest was led by left-wing and Palestinian Knesset members of Israel’s parliament.

They slammed Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who unveiled the government’s long-promised overhaul of the judicial system on Wednesday, with the aim of weakening the country’s Supreme Court.

Critics have accused the government of declaring war on the legal system, claiming that the plan will upend Israel’s system of checks and balances and undermine its democratic institutions by granting the new governing coalition absolute power.

With two terms as prime minister, from 2009 to 2021, Netanyahu, 73, has already held the position for the longest period of time in Israeli history.

His new government includes a politician who late last year admitted to tax evasion as well as several far-right personalities, such as one who once kept a portrait in his home of a man who massacred dozens of Palestinian worshippers.

Protesters on Saturday also called for peace and coexistence among the country’s Jewish and Palestinian residents.

The Black Flag movement, which calls to defend Israel’s democracy and is one of the groups organizing protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, announced that the demonstrations will continue next Saturday and called for others to join the “tens of thousands who came out tonight.”