Demonstrations resume amidst security concerns in 'Israel'

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies + Al Mayadeen Net
8 Apr 2023 16:50

Protests in "Israel" against judicial amendments continue despite the tense security situation following the recent escalation with Lebanon and Gaza.

Israelis protest plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to overhaul the judicial system, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, April 1, 2023 (AP)

Israeli media quoted the organizers of protests in "Israel", which are held against judicial amendments, as saying that "the security escalation will not prevent them from holding demonstrations on Saturday evening as usual."

Israeli occupation forces Reserve General Tal Rousso, an activist in the protest, had demanded that it be postponed "in view of the difficult security situation." Similarly, organizers have stated that "at the request" of the IOF, the demonstrations should be held in a "different format from previous ones."

They explained that the march anticipated to take place in "Tel Aviv" would be canceled noting that protests taking place in that location would be limited to sit-ins and demonstrations in the Talibiya neighborhood where the Israeli occupation President resides. It is worth noting that "Tel Aviv" is where the government and military agencies are located and have allegedly been considered the most secure location by the Israeli occupation.

However, the recent increase in Palestinian operations being conducted by Palestinians residing in 1948 Israeli-occupied Palestine, which has been considered by the Israeli occupation as an assimilated population, has shaken the core of the Israeli security myth.

Moreover, the organizers said the "Government ministers, instead of closing in the ranks of the people against security threats, are preoccupied with amendments that undermine the judiciary and democratic space and make power absolute to the government."

Criticism of Ben-Gvir

In conjunction with the canceling of "Tel Aviv" demonstrations, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid and former occupation Security Minister Benny Gantz made scathing criticism of Police Minister Itmar Ben-Gvir following his remarks accusing the opposition of "encouraging the enemy to engage in a military confrontation with Israel."

"Ben-Gvir evades responsibility and seeks to blame his failures on others," Lapid said, while Gantz called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to remove Ben-Gvir from office, arguing that his statements demonstrated "his loss of rationality."

In the same vein, the Minister of Finance of the occupation Government, Bezalel Smotrich, strongly criticized the government's "security policy," and stressed that "the current conditions cannot continue."

Israeli Member of the Knesset Orit Strook attacked the Netanyahu government questioning the long-term "security" of "Israel" insisting that it must "create a new deterrence force and change the concept of security on all fronts."