Israel extends protest restrictions

The Israeli government has extended an emergency provision that bars public gatherings, including widespread protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for an additional week. The Knesset passed a law last week allowing the government to declare a special week- long state of emergency to limit participation in assemblies because of the pandemic. The government then declared the state of emergency, limiting all public gatherings to within a kilometre of a person’s home. Netanyahu said the restrictions are driven by safety concerns as the country battles a runaway pandemic, but critics and protesters accuse him of muzzling dissent.