The protest against Netanyahu is immunized against confinement

Police detain a protester against Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Saturday.ABIR SULTAN / EFE

Israel is under the strictest lockdown since the outbreak of the pandemic in March.

Even the synagogues have closed their doors.

But on Saturday night thousands of protesters gathered again in central Jerusalem to demand the resignation of Benjamin Netanyahu, on trial for corruption.

The massive protest at the prime minister's official residence, where security measures were generally respected against the coronavirus, highlights the political weakness of a president who only receives the support of 27% of citizens for his crisis management health and economic, according to a survey by the Institute for Democracy in Israel.

The clamp of the opposition bloc - which runs the entire parliamentary arc, from the nationalist far right to the pacifist left and the Arab parties - with Netanyahu's centrist allies has for now blocked the ban on demonstrating beyond a kilometer from the Habitual housing.

This was the limit set by the Government, which in fact vetoed the demonstrations against it, mainly carried out by inhabitants of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.

The Plaza de Paris in Jerusalem, a stone's throw from the residence of the head of the Government, was a party participated by various organizations whose common denominator was the departure from power of the Likud leader.

Made up of a legion of movements connected through social media, the protest campaign against Netanyahu has not stopped growing for more than three months.

His supporters quickly interpreted the legal vacuum created by the blockade that emerged in the Knesset (Parliament).

"The strict lockdown was adopted to contain the spread of the virus, not to block the protests," warned

Cabinet

and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

"We are going to prevent recourse to emergency legislation against democratic rights."

Long caravans of vehicles collapsed the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway to the amazement of the police and soldiers stationed at the checkpoints that oversee the rigorous restrictions on mobility.

In Israel, the Government is empowered to impose restrictions due to the pandemic, but cannot suppress fundamental rights without the endorsement of the House.

Netanyahu's alleged attempt to suspend the demonstrations by tightening the lockdown has collided with a blocking majority.

"Democracy for All," read the banner in Hebrew and Arabic around which Avi Cohen, 45, and his companions played drums and trumpets on Saturday near Balfour Street, the seat of the Prime Minister's residence. armored by a triple police cordon.

Among the protesters, several agents circulated carrying digital tablets to fine those who did not wear a mask.

"We will not leave here until he leaves," he argued.

Everyone chanted "Bibi go home!"

to the rhythm of an electronic music festival.

The festive interlude in the Paris square between the end of the tedium of the Sabbath and the beginning, at sunset of Sunday, of the afflicted Yom Kippur (Day of Jewish Repentance) was about to be canceled by the head of the Health portfolio, Yuli Edelstein .

This baron of the Likud party invoked the "danger to human life" derived from the rallies as a justification to push for emergency legislation against street protests.

Meanwhile, the opposition had already presented 4,000 amendments to block the passage of the regulations.

The prime minister ended up recognizing in the end the setback suffered in front of the "anarchists" who demonstrate every week in front of his official residence.

Deep down, he is aware that they represent an urban middle class in Israel dissatisfied with his management of the crisis emanating from the covid-19 pandemic: one of the highest per capita infection rates on the planet and with the economy collapsed 28% in the second quarter of the year.

“We made mistakes.

The reopening of wedding and celebration rooms was done too quickly, "he admitted in an official statement," perhaps also the resumption of the course in the entire school system, but now we have no other option but to reimpose the general confinement. "

Israel, with a population of just over nine million, has exceeded the bar of 8,500 new coronavirus infections this weekend.

With their mouths and noses covered, separated by at least two meters - although with less social distance in the central areas of the concentration, the thousands of protesters who were deployed in the Paris Square of Jerusalem - and other tens of thousands of citizens to through online virtual platforms - Netanyahu was again reminded that his trial, under charges of fraud and bribery, will begin in earnest from January.

There are more and more voices from civil society demanding his resignation from the leadership of the Government in order to concentrate on his defense.

After the massive protest on Saturday, the synagogues have flown to open to the faithful for the Yom Kippur prayers at nightfall on Sunday. A new concession to the influential ultra-Orthodox Jewish minority, precisely the community hardest hit by the pandemic. Israel seems to continue adrift as a leader with more than 11 years at the helm of power holds on to office in order to free himself from the weight of justice.