Lapid: We won’t give up until we win
100,000 protest judicial reforms • Don’t accept this coup d’état – Michaeli
some 100,000 people protested against the government’s judicial reforms in tel aviv on saturday night, including politicians that oppose prime minister Benjamin netanyahu.
“what you see here is a protest for the country,” opposition leader yair Lapid, who did not attend the demonstration last week, said under the azrieli bridge shortly before the protest began. “this is a protest for the country. people who love the country came here today to defend its democracy, defend its courts and defend the idea of shared life and shared good.
“there are Israel-loving people here who came to fight for a democratic jewish state according to the principles of the declaration of Independence. we won’t give up until we win.”
mK Benny Gantz said that “we want to protect our democracy, and public backup and the activity in protests are very important for our political struggle. we are ready to come to agreements, but we are not willing to destroy our democracy and we will insist on that. so get going... we are all going out to the field.”
the protest in tel aviv started on Kaplan street and then turned into a march that went through menachem Begin, parashat drahim, arlozorov, derech namir, shaul Hamelech and dovanov streets. the march ended at the tel aviv Governmental complex.
roads were before 5 p.m., drawing outrage from protesters who claimed that the closures were being done so early to restrict protesting and stop them from being able to reach the location.
a number of organizations attended the protest, including the movement for Government Quality – which held its own protest at Habima square before joining the march at Kaplan.
politicians who attended the protest included Lapid, Gantz and mK merav michaeli.
other speakers at the demonstration included former defense minister and IdF chief of staff moshe (Bogie) ya’alon, former deputy attorney-general dina Zilber, Israel Bar association president avi Himi and ceo and co-founder of papaya Global eynat Guez.
michaeli said that “we mustn’t compromise on this coup d’état.
“with this crazy and dangerous government, we cannot negotiate. there’s no compromise on things that destroy Israel and its democracy. In this struggle, we have to be a united opposition. I call to my partners – don’t be confused! don’t negotiate with netanyahu who wants to destroy this place! we have to fight until we win.”
the protest in tel aviv wasn’t the only one on saturday night. some 5,000 protesters gathered in the Horev center in Haifa, while hundreds gathered in Herzliya. there was also a protest held in jerusalem.
to cancel the judicial system,” Zev explained. “They’re trying to erase it, using the system against itself.”
A spokesperson for the Movement for Quality Government in Israel said that “this is a tour de force, we hope to show the government that the people are not with them. We want the protests to grow and grow, and for more and more people to join.
“There’s one man who is going to trial, and he is afraid of prison and he doesn’t want to go there. It’s pretty obvious. That’s the main goal [of the government’s efforts to pass the reform]. Without that, there isn’t a reform, because he [was] against the reform... he talked about it only three years ago. He’s against reform, but he’s gone on trial. And for that, he will do everything,” the spokesperson explained.