On the walls of Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco, the most maligned prison in American history and now a tourist attraction, a picture of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a striped prisoner uniform was projected.
This is what Netanyahu saw when his plane lowered in preparation for landing in the city. This is what the residents of the city where many Israelis live.
An English sentence was screened on the UN building in New York calling on Americans, especially President Joe Biden, to protect Israeli democracy from the crime minister. Huge letters seen from almost anywhere in the city of the Big Apple.
During his visit, demonstrators will wait to convey the message to him: You are harming Israeli democracy, remove your hands from it; And the message to the Americans: Know that Netanyahu is unable to put out the fire in his own backyard, and therefore does not deserve preferential treatment as in the past.
The context is clear. The message is clear. But... There is a but.
Many make jokes about Sarah Netanyahu's fondness for the smell of fabric softener in New York hotels. She is offered to wash at home with a local fabric softener. The analogy is simple: either way, it is appropriate not to wash dirty laundry outside the house.
Had opposition to the regime coup been hidden from the world's eye, I would have been able to understand the actions of the protest leaders. But the situation is the opposite: the American media covers and criticizes the situation in Israel. Just yesterday, the prestigious investigative program, Minutes 60, broadcast an extensive article on the subject, in which it also interviewed Justice Minister Yariv Levin. No discounts were made to him, nor to the protest leaders.
I am in favor of the demonstrations in Kaplan, and have been taking part in them since they began. I am in favor of the activity of the protest leaders, who transferred informational materials to the American media networks ahead of a round of interviews that Netanyahu will surely give there, so that he will not "smear" them as he has done so far in interviews on the American networks. It does. Make a protest vigil in front of his hotel, fine. A protest vigil in front of the UN building during Netanyahu's meeting with President Biden and during his speech is completely justified.
We must loudly condemn the incitement of Netanyahu, who said that the protest leaders are joining Iran and Hamas. Absolute and dangerous predation. But here, in Israel, and within the democratic rules of the game
Everyone else, like the prime minister in prisoner uniform, slanders us badly and does not exactly help the State of Israel and its relations with the world in general and with the United States in particular.
It is permissible to criticize, it is necessary to criticize, and it is justified to criticize the government, which has been acting since its establishment in a way that leads to the destruction of the Israeli fabric that was built here with great effort. We must loudly condemn the incitement of Netanyahu, who said that the protest leaders are joining Iran and Hamas. Absolute and dangerous predation. This is said by the same prime minister, who is not doing enough to bring about calm. From my acquaintance with him, if he wanted to, he would have long ago straightened Levin, as he did to Ben-Gvir regarding security prisoners. He will be recorded in the history of our people as the one who signed the Abraham Accords on one hand and brought about a tremendous division in the nation on the other. What will decide in the end, political success or internal social failure, is already in his hands. As of now, he is not interested in reassuring. We don't interest him. Until he comes to his senses and really enters the event, the protest leaders must continue to demonstrate and protest.
But here, in Israel, and within the democratic rules of the game.
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