By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
SvennoJ on 23 June 2024
Edit Thread

‘All of the rats in the Knesset’: Mass antiwar protest in Israel

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/22/all-of-the-rats-in-the-knesset-mass-anti-war-protest-in-israel

Tens of thousands of protesters waving Israeli flags and chanting slogans against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday, demanding new elections and the return of captives held in Gaza.

Large protests have occurred in the Israeli city on a weekly basis over Netanyahu’s handling of the nearly nine-month-old war in Gaza started by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel.

Many protesters held signs reading “Crime Minister” and “Stop the War” as people poured into the biggest Israeli city’s main thoroughfare.

“I am here because I am afraid of the future of my grandchild. There will be no future for them if we don’t go out and get rid of the horrible government,” said contractor Shai Erel, 66. “All of the rats in the Knesset … I wouldn’t let any one of them be a guard of a kindergarten.”


Families and supporters of Israelis taken captive by Hamas fighters in Gaza in the October 7 attacks stand around a fire as they call for their release in Tel Aviv

 

Israeli police assault protesters, media in Tel Aviv

Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 has published video from the mass antigovernment demonstrations taking place right now in the streets of Tel Aviv, Israel, showing police assaulting a member of the media.

Other video from the protests posted on social media – and verified by Al Jazeera – shows police engaging violently with demonstrators and carrying out mass arrests.

Tonight, protesters in Israel are calling for the removal of Prime Minister Netanyahu, an end to Israel’s war on Gaza, and the safe return of the Israeli captives held there.

Israeli party leader condemns police violence against protesters

Yair Golan, the leader of the Israeli Labour Party, has taken to X to denounce mass arrests and brutality meted out by Israeli police on demonstrators, who are out in force tonight calling for an end to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government.

“Tonight’s violence in the demonstrations crossed all borders”, he said. “The police must not be allowed to become a tool in the hands of the corrupt and failed government of Israel’s destruction government”,  he added.

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/martin-niemoeller-first-they-came-for-the-socialists

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.