Live broadcast from the demonstration in Kaplan. Photo: Stevio
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Tens of thousands of people came this evening (Saturday) to Democracy Square at the intersection of Azrieli and Kalpan in Tel Aviv, to protest against the government. The demonstrators are also calling for a deal to return the 133 abductees who are still in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, demonstrations are taking place in over 55 centers across the country.
The "Free in our Country" movement, one of the organizers of the demonstration, emphasized the importance they see in the protest, especially on the occasion of the growing tensions with Iran. "The Iranian threat also sharpens the need for a stable and responsible government that will take care of the security of its citizens, in contrast to the government of Netanyahu and the minister of the "Dardalah", Itamar Ben Gabir, which systematically harms the security of the state, abandons the abductees and leads us from disaster to the abyss."
At the same time, thousands of people demonstrated today at the Horev intersection in Haifa, after marching in a procession from the center of Carmel. Opposition leader Yair Lapid came to the demonstration and strengthened the protesters. "You left after the 7th of October, and you went to do everything the Daredelah government didn't do: you re-established Israeli civil society," he said.
"This government is not the country. This government is a disaster that has happened to the country," Lapid called to the protesters, "for the sake of the kidnapped, for the fighters, for the evacuees, to save the State of Israel, we need elections now." Lapid added and called Netanyahu: "a corrupt and dangerous prime minister who has lost his brakes, all that motivates him is to hold on to the throne and the office."
About a thousand more people demonstrated today in Caesarea in front of the Prime Minister's residence. The protesters arrived this morning in the area behind the Netanyahu family residence, with magaphones in their possession, and called on the Prime Minister to take responsibility and resign. "We are standing in front of a pharaoh who is only hardening his heart, a heartbroken coward who fled to an atomic shelter," said the organizers of the demonstration.
The journalist and former MK of the "Labor" party, Miki Rosenthal, was present at the demonstration. Rosenthal gave a speech in which he called for Netanyahu's impeachment. "We are surrounded by dangerous enemies: in Gaza, Tehran and Beirut there are many Israel haters. But the person who most endangers our existence here as a Jewish and democratic society lives in Caesarea," he said, "we will exterminate our enemies and the person who endangers us will be removed from the steering wheel. Because he is not the owner of the Zionist project, but we are."