MK Ariel Kellner's initiative is based on a ruling by Justice Aharon Barak in the Oslo days • According to the proposal, the number of demonstrators will be limited to 500 people and the protest outside the Prime Minister's house will last only 90 minutes.

Will the mass demonstrations near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home be reduced to just 500 people instead of thousands today? 

During the demonstrations, a rally in support of the Prime Minister of Jerusalem // Photo: Yoni Rickner

A new bill by MK Ariel Kellner (Likud) will be tabled today in the Knesset, proposing to limit the number of participants in political demonstrations to only 500 people and to allow the demonstration to last for only 90 minutes from 19:30 to 21:00. 

MK Kellner said his bill is based on a ruling given by retired Supreme Court President Prof. Aharon Barak in 1993 during demonstrations held near the home of then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin against the Oslo Accords.

MK Kellner says that "Barak's ruling explicitly called for balancing different rights and calls for consideration of the right to privacy of the residents of the neighborhood and not just the freedom of demonstration and expression. The same thing was true in 1993, twice as true in the Corona period. The protesters are robbing the lives of many residents and invading their private space. The demonstrators may be talking to Netanyahu, but in fact they are harming the residents. "

In the ruling written by Justice Barak (who sat in court with Justices Gabriel Bach and Theodore Orr), it was stated, among other things, that "a request should not be refused to hold a meeting near the prime minister's residence, but because it is also used as a residence. "And it has the symbolism of the government. It is different from surviving apartments or ordinary residential apartments and therefore petitioners are given the constitutional right to hold a meeting or demonstration near the prime minister's residence."

"This right is not absolute, it must be balanced with the right to privacy of the prime minister, his family and neighbors, yes it must be balanced for reasons of public peace. Speakers can be used as required to increase the speaker's voice to 500 participants. Organizers will appoint stewards to oversee So that the number of participants in the meeting does not exceed 500 ".

MK Kellner (40) entered the current Knesset only last month in place of Minister Gilad Ardan, who resigned on the eve of his appointment as Israel's ambassador to the UN. Kellner was born in Haifa. After his military service, he studied for a BSc in Industrial Engineering and Management at the Technion and later also graduated with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Haifa. Until entering the Knesset, he worked as a project manager at a leading high-tech company in Haifa. As a student he was one of the founders of the Orange Cell at the Technion to stop the disengagement plan. Following this period he repented. The first bill he placed on the Knesset table was to split the role of attorney general into the head of the Attorney General and the ombudsman.