Hundreds of Israelis demonstrate against Netanyahu's government

Jerusalem. – Hundreds of Israelis demonstrated this Saturday in different cities of the country in rejection of the Government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, amid the political and social tensions that Israel is going through. According to the Israeli Pro-Democracy Protest Movement organization, several hundred people gathered in Habima Square in Tel Aviv, one of the main meeting points for the protests, where attendees chanted slogans in favor of democracy and a peace agreement with Lebanon. During the demonstration, some participants displayed banners with quotes from former Israeli Prime Minister Isaac Rabin, promoter of the Oslo Accords and assassinated in 1995. Among the quotes shown, the phrase stood out: “Violence undermines the foundations of democracy”.

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Protesters also carried slogans such as “Hope lies in a peace agreement, not a judicial agreement”, referring to the request for pardon filed by Netanyahu last November, while he faces legal proceedings for alleged cases of corruption, fraud and abuse of power. Simultaneously, other groups of protesters held demonstrations on highways and road junctions in different areas of the country. At the Kfar Yehoshua bridge, in northern Israel, dozens of people demanded the prime minister's resignation and denounced what they called a "government of massacre". Furthermore, concentrations were recorded in Haifa and again in Jerusalem, where dozens of citizens gathered in Paris Square, located a few meters from Netanyahu's private residence, to express slogans against the Executive.

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The mobilizations are part of a series of protests that have been taking place in Israel since the controversial judicial reform promoted by the Government in 2023 and after the start of the war in Gaza that same year. Participants are demanding political changes and the formation of a state commission of inquiry into the security failures that allowed the attack led by Hamas on October 7. The protests had temporarily subsided during the 40 days of conflict with Iran due to restrictions imposed under the state of emergency, although some isolated demonstrations continued to take place and resulted in several arrests by the Israeli police.