demonstrations
New anti-government protests in Israel
Israelis protest in Tel Aviv against Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government. photo
© Tsafrir Abayov/AP/dpa
Mass protests against government policies have been taking place in Israel regularly for more than six months. Now the focus was on women’s rights.
In the Israeli coastal town According to media reports, more than 100,000 people demonstrated in Tel Aviv against the policies of Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing religious government. The focus of the weekly protests on Saturday night was the preservation of women’s rights.
Signs posted by women read, for example, “Hands off my rights” or “Israel is not Iran.” Rallies also took place in other Israeli cities.
In recent weeks, reports of attempts to restrict women in public spaces in Israel have accumulated. According to media reports, for example, in the city of Ashdod, a bus driver directed a group of teenage girls to the back of a bus and gave them blankets to cover themselves. In another incident, a woman was reportedly barred from boarding a bus altogether.
Several strictly religious parties are represented in Netanyahu’s government, which advocate more gender segregation in public space and regularly make advances in this direction. However, Netanyahu said after the Ashdod incident: “The State of Israel is a free country where nobody will restrict who can use public transport or dictate who sits where.” Anyone who does this must take responsibility for it.
Another protest march for women’s rights is planned for Thursday evening in the strictly religious town of Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv.
Mass protests against government policies have been taking place in Israel regularly for more than six months. At the end of July, as part of a highly controversial judicial restructuring, the coalition passed a law that restricts the Supreme Court’s options for action. Critics classify the government’s actions as a threat to Israel’s democracy.
On September 12, the Supreme Court plans to consider petitions against the law. According to media reports, however, the government is aiming to postpone the date. If the court rolls over the law and the government doesn’t accept it, Israel could face a national crisis.