Thousands Protest against Netanyahu
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Thousands took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest plans by Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government that they say threaten democracy and freedoms.
The protesters gathered in the city days after the most right-wing and religiously conservative government in the regime’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, according to Al Jazeera.
Protesters brandished signs with slogans including “Democracy in danger” and “Together against fascism and apartheid”.
Another banner read, “Housing, Livelihood, Hope.”
They slammed justice minister Yariv Levin, who on Wednesday unveiled the government’s long-promised overhaul of the judicial system.
Critics accused the government of declaring war on the legal system, saying the plan will upend Israel’s system of checks and gives absolute power to the new governing coalition.
“We are going to a dictatorship just for reasons of one person who wants to get rid of his law trial,” said a protester from Yavne, south of Tel Aviv, while referring to Netanyahu who was indicted on corruption charges in 2021, a protester said
Netanyahu’s 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.
