TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) – Weeks of anti-government protests in Israel turned into riots for the first time on Wednesday when stun grenades and water cannons were fired at protesters blocking a highway in Tel Aviv. The crackdown comes on the heels of Israel’s hardline National Security Minister calling for a tougher response to what he called “anarchists”.
The violence came as thousands across the country launched a “day of national unrest” to protest the government’s plans to overhaul Israel’s judicial system. The protests then moved to Jerusalem on Wednesday, where protesters rallied and chanted outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
Protesters were to gather in the evening in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in central Jerusalem.
Netanyahu’s allies argue that the proposed judicial reform program should reduce the influence of unelected judges. But critics, including influential business leaders and former military personnel, say Netanyahu is driving the country into authoritarian rule and will target judges while he is on trial for corruption. states that there is a clear conflict of interest.
Seeing the police, protesters shouted, “Where have you been?” This is a reference to the absence of security forces during the settlers’ attack on the Palestinian town of Hawala, which took hours to quell and which the army said was unprepared.
Police said demonstrators threw rocks and plastic bottles at officers. Police said they had arrested 39 protesters in Tel Aviv for disturbing the peace, and 11 were hospitalized with various injuries, according to Tel Aviv’s Solaski Medical Center.
Netanyahu also accused opposition leader Yair Lapid of fostering anarchy. Rapid urged police to show restraint and said the Netanyahu government had lost control.
Thousands of protesters have appeared at locations across the country waving Israeli flags. Parents marched with their children, technicians quit their jobs to demonstrate, and doctors protested outside hospitals.
The reform bill’s lead author, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, said on Tuesday that the coalition will push forward with parts of the judicial reform bill next month before parliament adjourns for the Passover holiday on April 2. said he intended to.
Netanyahu is at the center of a years-long political crisis in Israel, with his former allies turning against him and refusing to sit with him in government over his corruption allegations. The political turmoil, with five elections in four years, culminated in Netanyahu’s return to power late last year.
These allies, who wielded immense political power, have been at the top of Netanyahu’s government, including Ben Gubir, who was arrested dozens of times before entering politics and was convicted of inciting violence and aiding terrorist groups. Secured Portfolio. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a fanatical settler leader in the West Bank, has been given authority over a portion of the territory.
They have pledged to take a tough stance against the Palestinian people, who have faced heightened tensions in recent weeks. Smotrich, who has publicly called for a tougher response to the killing of two Israelis by a Palestinian shooter in the West Bank, said Israel was “going crazy” just before Sunday’s mob riots. said it should. He later called for restraint, but on Wednesday also said the attacked Palestinian town of Hawala should be “destroyed.”
The government said the law reform aims to correct an imbalance that has given the courts too much power and allowed them to interfere in the legislative process. They say the overhaul will streamline governance, and say last year’s elections that returned Netanyahu to power with a narrow majority in parliament gave them the power to make changes.
