Protests began in cities and junctions across Israel on Saturday afternoon for the 16th weekly anti-judicial reform protests all across Israel, with a central rally in Tel Aviv, which is took place on Kaplan Street. About 380,000 protesters took part in the demonstrations across the country, according to the organizers of the protests.
During the protest in Tel Aviv, a number of protesters temporarily blocked the Ayalon highway.
Protesters began demonstrating at the Goma Junction in the North as Rehovot protesters also began gathering early on Saturday evening, seen in the video above.
Protest organizers and Israel Police began preparations for the Kaplan rally on Friday when organizers of the protest called on the public to join them in their demonstration against "the increasing calls in the coalition to enact the laws of the dictatorship, eliminate the values of the Declaration of Independence, the economy and disband the people's army."
The protests have continued despite the temporary halt of the judicial reform legislation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared at the end of March.
"The public understands that the sword of the dictatorship is still on its neck, threatening to destroy everything we built," protest organizers stated.
How many protesters showed up in each city?
Protest organizers stated that about 380 thousand protesters came out in the 16th week of demonstrations against the judicial reforms, with 165 thousand in Tel Aviv, 3,500 in Rehovot, two thousand in Holon, 5,500 in Kiryat Ono, 28 thousand in Netanya, seven thousand in Rishon Lezion and 400 in Eilat.
In Herzliya, there are reportedly around 13 thousand protesters at the demonstration in the city. In Haifa, there are at least 30 thousand demonstrators, according to Ynet.
Israel’s protests are now crossing sacred red lines
Israel’s three-month-old protest movement, which has repeatedly brought tens of thousands into the streets, is now crossing an increasing number of red lines.
There are serious anxieties that protests will disrupt next week’s Remembrance Day for Fallen Soldiers and Independence Day ceremonies.
At a Holocaust Remembrance Day synagogue service this week, anti-government participants forced Likud MK Boaz Bismuth to leave after they shouted at him to get out and started to become physically violent.
The leader of the opposition, Yair Lapid, announced that because the government had “divided society,” he would boycott the traditional torch-lighting ceremony that ends Memorial Day and opens Independence Day.
It was hitherto unthinkable that Israelis could desecrate those three sacred days. It was similarly unthinkable for soldiers of the IDF to refuse to serve their country, as did a group of elite Air Force pilots in protest against the government.
It should be apparent to rational observers that this has gone way beyond the issue of judicial reform. That particular agenda is now all but dead in the water. The government has retreated. Yet the protests are not only continuing but are becoming increasingly disturbing.
This is because judicial reform is a flashpoint for profound divisions that have previously escaped attention but have now erupted.
The Israeli protests are being fed by several different agendas. Some people oppose the judicial reforms because they believe the judiciary provides the only check on political power. Some want to bring down Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Some are frightened by religious or nationalist extremists in the government.
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