Mass protests expected on Saturday night as political divide deepens

Tens of thousands including many opposition MKs and prominent public figures are expected to attend a mass demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday night in protest of the government’s judicial reforms.

“It is the duty of every citizen to join the fight for the homeland, its security and future, for the values of the Declaration of Independence, for equality, for the brotherhood of man, his dignity, his rights and his freedom,” according to a flyer distributed by the Black Flags movement, which is organizing the demonstration. It also included the slogans “No to Dictatorship” and “This is a True Alarm.”

Party leaders who announced they would attend the “Fighting the Coup d’État” protest at Habima Square included National Unity chairman and former defense minister Benny Gantz, Labor chairwoman Merav Michaeli and Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas. Many opposition MKs from these parties and Yesh Atid also said they would attend. Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman did not commit out of concern of being linked to some of its left-wing messages.

Both Gantz and Lapid initially said they would not attend. However, Gantz on Thursday announced he had changed his mind.

“The intentions of the coalition and Netanyahu to carry out a coup d’état, in a hurried and chaotic manner, while violating the most basic values of the Declaration of Independence and refusing to dialogue over broad agreements, is dangerous for the State of Israel,” Gantz wrote on Twitter.

במוצאי שבת אגיע להפגנה החשובה בהבימה. הכוונות של הקואליציה ונתניהו לבצע הפיכה משטרית, באופן מהיר ובהול, תוך פגיעה בערכים הבסיסיים ביותר של מגילת העצמאות וסירוב להידברות למען הסכמות רחבות - מסוכנת למדינת ישראל.

— בני גנץ - Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) January 12, 2023

“We reached out for dialogue, and our hand is still extended – but we will not give up and will fight with all legal means to prevent these extreme measures.”

Gantz called on citizens to come to the stage with the flags of Israel and to behave according to the law, without inciteful signs and without being dragged into provocations that will only harm the struggle.

“This is not a civil war – it is a civil duty,” Gantz said.

Protests following a week of rising tension

The protest comes after a week of high-octane political tension, which oscillated between fierce and sometimes threatening rhetoric and attempts to calm everyone down.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin first announced the judicial reforms last Wednesday, and launched its legislative process on Monday morning, along with Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman MK Simcha Rothman of the Religious Zionist Party. The full text of the law proposals was published on Wednesday evening and Thursday.

Some 30,000 people gathered at Habima Square in Tel Aviv last Saturday night to protest the reforms. Some Palestinian flags were displayed, as well as at least two signs criticizing the government using Nazi symbolism, leading to criticism from the coalition but also to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu falsely generalizing on Wednesday that “the opposition was calling the coalition ‘Nazis.’”

Lapid and Gantz failed at first to specifically condemn the Nazi signs, and on Monday harshly criticized the reforms, with Gantz warning of deterioration into a civil war and Lapid calling on citizens to take to the streets in protest. The coalition accused Gantz of calling for civil war and Lapid of sedition.

Tuesday saw a member of Otzma Yehudit threatening to lock up Gantz, Lapid and others. Two other members of the party supported the comment. However, National Security Minister and Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben-Gvir rebuked his MKs for their comments.

President Isaac Herzog warned during the week against the flammable rhetoric, and called on Tuesday for all sides to calm down.

“I appeal to you, elected representatives and citizens from across the public and political spectrum: exercise restraint and act responsibly. We need to calm things down and lower the temperatures,” he wrote. “We have no other country.”

National Security Minister wastes no time

As the week progressed, Ben-Gvir made controversial comments of his own. In a meeting with top police brass this week, he encouraged them to make more arrests than what they made on Saturday night. He claimed in the meeting, and afterwards on Facebook in response to criticism, that the police discriminate against the Right, and therefore all he was saying was to apply the law equally. He also encouraged the use of water cannons.

Ben-Gvir also directed police to bar the waving of Palestinian flags, on the grounds that they constituted incitement to terror. Waving the flag itself is not against the law and it is not clear if the police will actually follow through on these orders.

The police on Thursday put out a statement saying it had held a situational assessment with Ben-Gvir regarding the demonstration and that they expected there to be “public unrest” at the demonstration.

The police said it “promised that the demonstration would occur in full,” and that “it is every person’s basic right in a democratic country,” but that the intelligence picture” raised “concern for unrest.”

The police specifically pointed out that it would not allow any Nazi symbolism.

The Black Flag protest movement in response called the assessment a “shameful attempt to publicly delegitimize a democratic protest.”

“It looks like the spirit of convicted criminal Ben-Gvir has settled on the police, which is trying to delegitimize a democratic protest and paint it as being violent. We call on the general public to come and protest the coup d’état and completely ignore the police’s lies. We remind the commissioner and police spokesperson that they work for the law and the public, and are not Ben-Gvir’s servants.”

Another protest movement called Crime Minister said the police’s announcement was “dangerous and false incitement” against those who “for years have been protesting lawfully.” This was a “transparent attempt” to weaken the protest and block the public from attending, the movement said. It also accused the police of “raising a white flag” and of becoming “Ben-Gvir’s political police.”

Earlier in the week, the police and National Security Ministry put out a joint statement stating that while they would ensure the freedom of demonstration, they would not hesitate to arrest “rioters” or people who attack police officers. No riots or attacks against police officers occurred in Saturday night’s demonstration.

In response, two protest leaders, former defense minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya’alon and Movement for Quality Government head lawyer Eliad Shraga met with top police officials on Wednesday to ensure that there would be no unnecessary force used against them.

Shraga responded to Thursday’s police statement warning of unrest: “The commissioner is expected to stand behind the things that were agreed upon in our meeting [on Wednesday], and to protect the safety of the tens of thousands of protesters who are expected to demonstrate on Saturday night at Habima Square. With all due respect to Minister Ben-Gvir, he will not determine whether it is legal or not to protest. If he thinks that this is North Korea – he will find out very quickly that he made a big mistake.”