Netanyahu avoids protests by air
Copter deposits Israeli premier at airport on way to Rome
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to be airlifted on Thursday to the country’s main international airport for an official overseas trip after throngs of cars and protesters prevented him from driving there.
The demonstrations were part of nationwide protests underway for more than two months against Netanyahu and his government’s contentious plan to overhaul the judiciary.
Demonstrators had made blocking Netanyahu’s route to the airport a centerpiece of their efforts, and the optics of the Israeli leader having to make alternate travel plans were a win for the protest movement.
The helicopter ride, far from the snarling traffic triggered by the protest, was also sure to deepen Netanyahu’s reputation as being out of touch with Israelis at a time when the country finds itself torn apart over the government plan and the economy is slowing.
Israel’s figurehead president, Isaac Herzog, who has been trying to mediate a compromise between Netanyahu’s allies and the opposition, appealed for a solution in a televised speech late Thursday.
“What is happening here is a tragedy,” he said as protests continued late into the evening.
Herzog, whose role as president is supposed to be as a unifying force and largely above politics, said the draft promoted by Netanyahu should be dropped immediately. “It is wrong. It is destructive. It undermines our democratic foundations,” he said.
Elsewhere, protesters blocked main intersections and scuffled with police in the seaside metropolis of Tel Aviv and other cities. A small flotilla of paddleboards and kayaks tried to close off a main maritime shipping lane off the northern city of Haifa. Some protesters barricaded the Jerusalem offices of a conservative think tank helping to spearhead the judicial changes.
Later Thursday, the military said it suspended a pilot, identified in Israeli media as Col. Gilad Peled, until further notice, saying he had organized a pilots’ protest.
“Unionizing to synchronize absence from service, though coming from good intentions, is forbidden,” said Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, Israel’s air force chief.
While some former top commanders have identified with the protesters, a group of 36 retired generals, including two former chiefs of staff, released a new letter saying the army must remain above politics and calling on reservists to show up for duty.
Netanyahu, who took office in late December after a protracted political stalemate, and his allies say the measures aim to rein in a court that has overstepped its authority. Critics say the overhaul will upset the country’s delicate system of checks and balances and slide Israel toward authoritarianism.
The protesters’ main objective Thursday was to complicate Netanyahu’s journey to the airport ahead of a state visit to Rome. Police, handing out traffic tickets as protesters held signs reading, “dictator: don’t come back!” said they would clear the demonstrators by force if they did not move. There were no immediate reports of serious violence.
Netanyahu arrived at the airport in a police helicopter, circumventing the protesters, Israeli media reported. Netanyahu’s office declined to comment.
Regular flights were not interrupted, an airport spokeswoman said, although some travelers said they had to leave their cars behind the protesters’ convoy and reach the terminal by foot.
The police, overseen by ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, pledged to prevent the disturbances and said they had made some 15 arrests.
Later Thursday, Ben-Gvir removed Tel Aviv’s police chief over what he felt was a weak response to the protests, according to Israeli media. Police said Avichai Eshed was being reassigned.
Eshed declined to discuss the matter while speaking to reporters at the scene of a shooting attack late Thursday, when a Palestinian gunman opened fire on a crowded street in central Tel Aviv, wounding three people before he was shot and killed.