Demonstration in Kaplan for the abductees/Israel Police spokeswoman
In recent months, the Kaplan force leaders, Shakma Bressler, Roy Neuman and Nadav Galon, have been holding a daily consultation.
The voices calling for action to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the Black Sabbath failure pressured them to take to the streets since the beginning of the fighting.
To them it seemed a mistake.
defiance
The three waited patiently for the right moment, and now, they think, it has arrived.
The demonstrations of the central organization in protest against the legal revolution will return this Thursday.
There was no single trigger that led to the decision.
It was an accumulation of events and actions on the part of the government that infuriated the target audiences of the protest, such as the smearing of the agreement on a deal for the return of additional abductees, the transfer conference that called for the return of the settlements to Gaza, and the distribution of the budget, which returned to the headlines the storm of the religious-secular battle, which agitated the country in the period leading up to October 7 , and had time to be forgotten.
A few thousand people joined the protest in the square.
Demonstration against the government, February 10, 2024/Reuters
Another factor is the assessment that public opposition to a return to protest has moderated.
According to the leaders of the protest, polls conducted a month and a half or two months ago, when the war was still in its most intense stages, showed that the public is not yet ready for a return to protest.
Recently there has been a certain change, a softening of attitudes.
"We came to the conclusion that only a struggle will bring elections," explains Galon.
"After October 7, we must return the mandate to the people, but Netanyahu and his partners are cut off. Only if we return to the street and apply pressure will things begin to move."
The difference is related to another element: the intensification of the struggle of the abductees' families.
If at the beginning of the war the blockade of Ayalon sounded like a combination of words from another world, which has passed and been deleted, in recent weeks it is a weekly headline on Saturday night.
A series of relatives, including Metzger, Monder, Calderon Or, Hyman, Pelti and Mozes, carefully weighed the rallies in Hatavim Square and gradually escalated their protest.
Bonfires on Ayalon South, arrests and a prolonged blockade were the result in the last round.
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Demonstration against the government in Bhima square/Reuters
Although it is not a headquarters uniting the families, yet, they too have changed messages accordingly.
At the first blockade, they made it clear that there was no connection to the rally, including through police spokesmen.
The fear of departing from the consensus in public opinion is real.
But as the blockades continued, they probably realized that renouncing the more radical families arouses internal tensions and floods them out, and perhaps also that publicized actions of this type are not such a bad idea for the struggle, as long as it is possible to keep a distance from them.
The clarifications stopped.
The families, some of whom frequented Kaplan even before the war, began to rewhiten Ayalon and the barriers for everyone, even if they did not intend to.
The weekly rallies, although clear political-centralized boundaries are maintained, also contributed to maintaining the continuity of leaving the homes.
However, the case of the protest calling for elections is different.
They can be criticized.
And there is no doubt that she will come.
All discussions of the impact of the protest and the division on the surprise attack will arise and intensify as the demonstrations grow, the tweeters will tweet vigorously and the politicians will come out with condemnations.
The protest will be measured by the resistance it will show in the face of the storm that will get stronger as it grows.
They know the backlash, they have dealt with it before.
The question is whether they will be able to stick to the message even when the strength of the opposing emotion will be much greater.
"Within weeks we will gather for one protest."
Moshe Redman demonstrates against the government in Kfar Saba/official website, Danor Aharon
Meanwhile, a significant part of the energy is spent in collecting the fragments of what was a protest against the legal revolution.
For many months they managed to keep alive the most extensive struggle in the country.
Black Saturday was supposed to mark the 40th week of protest.
In the previous 39, the activists had enough time to paralyze roads, light countless flares and fireworks, get arrested hundreds of times, shut down the economy and block decisions and laws from a second game.
One thing made all of this possible: the ability to unite under one umbrella, despite the differences of opinion between the multitude of organizations and positions.
Interest prevailed over everything.
Now the splits are much more pronounced.
The war created a distinction between the hawks and the doves in the protest, between those who rush back to fight for the replacement of the government, and those who choose to mobilize for the total battle, and put aside the previous one for a while.
Few joined the continuous protest that continued at Kaplan 22. Not many, only a few thousand, a hard core, joined the protest of the last two months at the Bima square.
Some of the prominent organizations and figures who were in the field will not return even now.
The new stage demonstrations showed the gap between the protest leaders.
Moshe Redman, who paved his way into politics, independently chose to return to a central demonstration on Saturday.
First alone, later with other prominent figures such as Ami Dror and Ran Har Nebo, with whom he led the great march to Jerusalem.
"As far as I'm concerned, after a few weeks I realized that the government has moved on to get involved in politics. That they don't intend to stop with the coup d'état. That Netanyahu is throwing the blame," Lavala! said.
"I said, if this is the case, the whole shell of 'quiet shooting' cannot exist. At this time they are gaining power and burying the country even more. The government causes people to die in battle for political reasons."
The families of the abductees are blocking Ayalon/official website, Eitan Salonim
"The first time there were a few hundred, last Saturday more than 50,000 across the country. Not yet 200,000 but it's starting to gain momentum," he boasts.
However, the decision drew criticism from other factions in the protest who believed it was too early to do so.
"There are disagreements, I don't hide them. Both about the way and the timing," he admits, "but we see that things are starting to come together. A week and a half ago Kaplan Force said that he saw no reason to demonstrate in the near future and here they are on the streets. They understand that it is now or never. Their joining is welcome. Every person who cares about the country should be on the street."
Now they will try to unite again to achieve the goal.
So far, along with the Kaplan force, the protests of the academy, the doctors, the high-tech, the pink front and alternative builders have been regrouped.
"I believe that within a few weeks we will come together in a single protest that includes old and new bodies for intense pressure to disperse the Knesset," estimates Redman.
"I'd rather it not be Shabbat, but to actually shut down the state. To say on March 15 if the government doesn't dissolve itself, the state stops. Hundreds of thousands come to the Knesset and sit there until it dissolves."
The baptism of fire will take place tomorrow outside the houses of Knesset members and ministers under the title "Destruction is already here, only struggle will bring elections".
The list of focal points is long and ambitious: Yoav Galant, Yuli Edelstein, Nir Barkat, Gila Gamliel, Danny Danon, Ofir Akunis, Yoav Kish, Amir Ohana, Yariv Levin, Amichai Shikli, Ariel Kellner, Zvika Vogel, Eli Dellal, and Yitzhak Vassarlauf.
In the protest, they intend to make Thursdays the weekly evening of the demonstrations against the government, in an attempt to avoid a clash with the protests of the abductees.
The two goals got mixed up in the previous demonstrations and it will be difficult to separate them in practice, but the goal will be at least to try.
The response to the upcoming demonstrations will determine what happens next, with the possibility of returning to Kaplan in the coming weeks being on the table.
It is not impossible that as early as tomorrow, major roads near the protest centers will be blocked and the atmosphere will affect the next steps.
At the same time, the stage protest will change its address to Kaplan already on Saturday - but not at the intersection itself but on the street, near the Sharona complex.
"The message: we went up to the field, we're back. If you don't go to the elections, we won't let you down," Galon clarifies.
"The attempt will be to create a critical mass of voices calling for the same thing - elections. The polls show that this is what the people want."
Rally for the release of the kidnapped, February 10, 2024/Official website, Uri Sela
Demonstrators for the release of the detainees who blocked Ayalon/official website, the headquarters of the struggle in Herzliya
"The Kaplan axis cannot be closed"
On the other hand, in the Tel Aviv district of the police they are preparing to deal with mass demonstrations and attempts to block roads again.
Sub-Superintendent Eitan Menashe, commander of the Yarkon region of the police, claimed in a conversation with Walla that there has been no change in the policy towards demonstrations since the removal of District Superintendent Ami Ashad and the entry of Superintendent Peretz Amar, but noted that there are security implications derived from the war that is currently underway.
"The Kaplan axis cannot be closed, period," he emphasized.
"The axis is out of the question, certainly not at this time. We cannot allow ourselves the luxury of closing traffic lanes during demonstrations. We are at war. Yes, protests can take place near the axis, for example in the garden of the Sharona complex or the Bima square. This is perfectly fine. It is the public's right to demonstrate But as soon as you close the axis itself, it has enormous implications in many aspects, mainly security."
The Menashe Bible elaborated on the traffic routes and entrance gates that lead to the Kriya base that serves as the heart of the combat management and the locations of the demonstrations and rallies that surround it.
This is a sensitive issue.
On the one hand, there are the families of the abductees, for whom your heart breaks.
We cry with them.
As far as I am concerned, Eitan, I will do everything for the son of the father who is protesting to return, but you understand that one has to juggle between his desire to protest and the need to enter or travel towards the Kriya base."
Although the Menashe Bible emphasizes the need to keep the traffic arteries open, he believes That the war will not affect the way in which the police disperse demonstrations in relation to previous demonstrations.
Dispersing the demonstrators rests only on the commander's discretion, and not on red lines that are established.
"At the end of the day, the police are not the enemy of the demonstrators. Life is not black and white, and even when we moved people, the extreme events were few and it's good that way. Every demonstration has a level that we determine its level according to its nature. If we have a violent demonstration that attacks policemen and there is severe violence, then we will rise You rate accordingly."
Demonstration in front of the Knesset for the release of the kidnapped/Flash 90, Oren Ben Hakon
During the conversation with him, Menashe explained that there is no expected change in police policy regarding protests outside the homes of members of the Knesset. and the distance that is allowed for such demonstrations, and we are working according to it.
There will be no change in relation to the demonstrations that existed before the war and now."
The commander of the Yarkon region said that as part of the preparations, a meeting was held last week between him and the district commander and the leaders of the Kaplan protest. According to him, some of the leaders of the Bima protest chose not to come. "We heard the protest leaders, we explained the limitations and the reality of Israel.
They presented us with their issues and we told them we were very happy.
As long as it is coordinated with us, everything will be done in a proper manner."
Menashe's Bible was resentful of the existence of protest events without approval and regulation in front of the police.
"Don't people understand that we are at war? What is this, normal routine?" he said.
"There is a figure that is important to know - we have less than 120 police officers in the Yarkon area, it's crazy. It makes me sick, the Israel Police is one of the most important bodies for national security in the State of Israel and they saw it on October 7, the last line that stopped and sacrificed his life More than 61 police officers fought with guns and stopped the forces of evil - do you understand what would happen if 150 women arrived in the Tel Aviv area? We have criminals to catch, we have rapists to catch, there are security warnings about placing police officers in crowded places."
More on the same topic:
demonstrations
Gaza war
War of Iron Swords
The legal revolution