The train slid into Haifa's Hof HaCarmel station, with hundreds of demonstrators standing on both sides of the tracks. The locomotive driver honked his horn twice to warn that God forbid no one would swerve towards the tracks. "I'm 74 years old and I shouldn't be here," said Sarah Korman, who came from Moshav Shefer in the Upper Galilee holding a sign that read, "Last moments of democracy. Help." "I'm fighting for you, because your freedom and life are being erased. I was born in Leningrad, I know what a dictatorship is. I ran away from her. I feel like crying."
Demonstrators and Maccabi Haifa fans got off the train, arriving early for their team's evening game against the Maltese. Israel Railways reinforced the stations not only with uniformed police officers, but also with its personnel in order to prevent unnecessary friction. One of them was Ernie Sela, a guy wearing a kippah, who smiled at what was coming. One of the protesters offered him earplugs, but Sela politely stung that the noise didn't make an impression on him.
"These people didn't learn that the demonstrations create anti-Semitism in the so-called 'Second Israel,'" Sela said as he stood aside for a moment to take a breath. "An entire people sees that they are trying to steal a country and it doesn't go that way. Where were you when there were elections? Look who's coming here for the squishy and retired, who don't have employment."
Check at Binyamina train station // Credit: Shani Tamim
Yes, there were quite a few young people there, but also adults who had passed retirement age in a few good years. "How old do I look?" asked Danny Mador, sitting on a bench on the side. "87," he replied when I made a big mistake. "I'm worried, my wife is worried, the children, the grandchildren, the friends. I remember everything from the establishment of the State of Israel and there were no such periods. There were governments of right and left, Peres and Shamir worked together, raised laws cooperatively. There hasn't been a government that can't communicate with the other side."
Demonstrators continued to pour into the station, and more than once the leaflet asked to be careful, because the crowding and heat had shifted gears. "Such a demonstration achieves an indirect effect," explained Gal Wallach from Haifa. "After all, what affects the prime minister is not what happens in Hebrew, but in English, and things that seem stressful outside are the only ones that affect him. Does this affect government ministers? Unfortunately not at all. They want to rule.
The train at Ben Gurion Airport, photo: Roni Shapira
"I voted for the Likud more than any other party in my life. I am not here to topple the government, because it is only toppled at the ballot box. I am here to protest the change in the character of the state. Even if I have a majority, I can't decide what I want."
16:40
The train to Binyamina left the station. In the seat across from me, a guy gestured a finger of support to the demonstrators standing on the platform, while the guy, in the seat next to me, waved a triple finger and hurried to record it on his mobile.
Supporters of the reform arrive at the train station, photo: Coco
20 minutes drive and we parked at the station in Binyamina, which was already crowded with brains from all around. "Why am I optimistic?" said Tal Shaked, who arrived with his wife Liat from Zichron Yaakov. "If I look at the angle of who will win, which is not the right angle, then it is clear to me that there is no way to force aggressive measures on such a large number of people who actively oppose. We will not lose. Why am I pessimistic? If we win or lose, it will be a disaster. The only way out of the situation is a sane coalition of people from the right, center and liberal left who are willing to reach broad agreements on the rules of the game. Here I am less optimistic, because those who are currently leading the sides are those who want to fight. My assessment is that we will still suffer a lot."
The noise in the environment became unbearable, the intensity of the zamburas broke records. Of them all, Nathan Gershuni stood out, who came from her room with a real noise monster - the body of a home drill, to which a compressor was attached and above it a truck poplar sign. "We're honking our horns for the revolution," he explained to one of those interested, and then added: "I'm a disabled IDF veteran, so should guys who didn't serve in the army call me a leftist, a traitor? It hurts the soul. That way my children won't be able to live here and my grandchildren won't be able to grow up. This is not a normal country."
17:39
Exactly ten minutes late, the train finally left Binyamina on its way to Tel Aviv. Matan, who had to arrive at Mazkeret Batya and did not demonstrate at all, said that he supports the protesters, as long as they do not block roads and the train does not seem to him that a problem is expected.
Demonstrators at the Herzliya train station, photo: Maor Shleifer
Just open your mouth and the train slowed down. They said there was a nationwide malfunction in the entire system. In Herzliya, the locomotive driver announced that he would not be able to continue and that each passenger was responsible for himself. A guy from Holon, who sat next to me and made it clear during the trip that it was a pity there was no dictator in the country, said downhill. "God must be banging his head every time when he remembers who He took by His side as the chosen people. We can't live together here."
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us