Opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv condemned his failure to address a car ramming incident involving anti-government protesters. The demonstration drew tens of thousands of people, with organizers claiming 100,000 in attendance. Similar protests demanding early elections and the release of hostages were held in other cities across Israel. The largest demonstration since October 7th, protesters called for immediate elections and the release of hostages. Skirmishes broke out between police and demonstrators near the Israeli army headquarters, and a bonfire was lit outside the Histadrut labor federation building. Protesters also gathered outside Netanyahu's residence in Caesarea.
Opponents of far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, April 7, issued harsh condemnations of his failure to immediately address an incident the previous evening in which a car rammed into anti-government protesters in Tel Aviv.
“Cease fire now!” and “Israel-Palestine, two states for two peoples,” Hadash demonstrators at Kaplan Street in Tel-Aviv, Saturday evening, April 6, 2024 (Photo: Zu Haderech)
Footage from the scene showed the driver, the Likud activist Haim Sirotkin who rammed into anti-Netanyahu protesters in Tel Aviv, and passengers yelling before speeding forward and driving over several people. The driver was later arrested.
The demonstration, held on the eve of the six-month mark of the war in Gaza, drew tens of thousands, with organizers claiming some 100,000 people were in attendance. Thousands more joined the call for early elections and a deal to secure the release of the hostages held in Gaza in smaller protests in other cities including Jerusalem, Haifa, Beer Sheva and Caesarea. Furthermore, there were demonstrations in over 50 additional locations across the country among them Kfar Sava, Karkur, Eilat, Kyriat Gar and Sha’ar Hanegev. The Israeli media define the demonstration as “the largest since October 7th.”
The protest in Tel-Aviv took place near the Ministry of Defense to concentrate at the Ayalon intersection, the ring road, renamed “Democracy Square”. Among the slogans stand out those calling for “elections immediately” and “free the hostages immediately”. Tel Aviv protesters lit several fires on Kaplan Street, near the Ministry of Defense, which were quickly put out by police with fire extinguishers. The officers then used force to remove the people who took to the streets, while the speakers of the demonstration tried to regain control. The crowd shouted “Police, who exactly are you protecting?” and “[National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir is a terrorist.”
After the speeches ended in Democracy Square, masses of protesters marched to Begin Street, in front of the Israeli army headquarters where skirmishes broke out between police and demonstrators. The police spokesperson released a statement charging a protester to had punched a female cop in the face but later retracted the claim, acknowledging the demonstrator did not act with “malicious intent,” after a video of the incident was shared widely online. The officer had her nose broken by a protester who was shoved by another officer, fell backwards and accidentally hit her face with his elbow.
As a group of protesters proceeded northward on Begin Street, they marched toward the headquarters of the Histadrut labor federation on Arlozorov Street instead of attempting to block Ayalon Highway, as has happened on many previous Saturday nights. Outside the union building, demonstrators lit a bonfire and chanted “Strike now!” demanding that chairman Arnon Bar-David declare a large-scale strike against the far-right government. The union chief declared a daylong strike last year in opposition to the government’s judicial overhaul efforts, a move joined by airport workers at Ben Gurion Airport and numerous other labor organizations.
At the hostages’ families protest in Jerusalem, which numbered around 2,000 people, organizer Tom Barkai quoted Carmit Palty-Katzir in her opening speech outside the Prime Minister’s Residence. “We have seen that our hostages will come back to us through agreements and not through combat,” she said.” In Haifa, Palty Katzir, the sister of slain hostage Elad Katzir, gave a speech in which she blamed the government for the death of her brother. The People’s Protest, a Haifa group behind the march, published her statement on Facebook just ahead of the demonstration. “The prime minister, members of the war cabinet, and members of the coalition, look at yourselves in the mirror, and ask yourselves whether it was not your hand that spilled that blood. You still have 133 hostages to redeem — worlds to save,” she wrote.
In Caesarea, protesters demanding elections and Netanyahu’s resignation flanked police barricades while demonstrating a few hundred meters from Netanyahu’s private residence. At least three persons were detained.
Separately, some 300 people attended a rally at Sha’ar Hanegev Junction near Sderot. Unlike most other rallies on Saturday, organizers of the protest in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council the rally only “commemorates six months since the war broke out” and the fact that some 130 people are held hostage in Gaza.” Tonight, many demonstrators were expected to gather once again in Jerusalem for a protest in front of the Knesset building and organizers were arranging rides to Jerusalem from across the country.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=31718