Thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Sunday evening against threats they believe weigh on Israeli democracy amid negotiations between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former rival Benny Gantz for a government.
Around 2,000 demonstrators - according to figures given by Israeli media - responded to the call made on Facebook by the so-called "black flag" movement by gathering in Yitzhak Rabin square to "save democracy".
Masks and distancing
This rally also aims to mark their opposition to the ongoing talks between Benny Gantz, head of the centrist Blue-White party, and the leader of the right-wing Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu, accused of corruption.
Wearing protective masks and mostly dressed in black, the protesters stood two meters away from each other, thus respecting the social distancing measures in force to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic which officially contaminated in Israel more than 13,000 people, 172 of whom died.
"Let democracy win", could be read on placards. "Minister of crime", wrote other demonstrators on their masks, waving black flags, a symbol for them of threats to Israeli democracy.
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After legislative elections on March 2 - the third in less than a year, which were finally to decide between Netanyahu and Gantz -, President Reuven Rivlin had entrusted the latter with the task of forming the next government.
And in the midst of a new coronavirus pandemic, Gantz had caused surprise by paving the way for a government of “unity and emergency” with Benjamin Netanyahu. However, he had previously sworn not to share power with him, until he had resolved his problems with the law. Opposition supporters then accused Gantz, a former army chief of staff, of having surrendered.
Monday evening, his mandate expired without agreement and President Rivlin entrusted the task of Parliament to propose, in a little less than three weeks, an elected representative with enough support to try to form a government and thus put an end to more than a year of political crisis.
"Democracies die from within"
Meanwhile, the camps of MM. Gantz and Netanyahu say they are continuing their talks for a possible union.
“We don't fight corruption from the inside. If you are in it, you are part of it, ” launched MP Yair Lapid, the new opposition leader, targeting his former ally Benny Gantz. "Democracies die from the inside because good people keep quiet and weak people surrender," he added, denouncing alleged Netanyahu maneuvers to stay in power. "We are here to say that we will never give up."