Only 300 of far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s supporters gathered on Thursday evening, August 20, outside his official residence in Jerusalem, in a show of support after two months of growing anti-Netanyahu demonstrations at the same location in which many thousands have taken part.
Organizers of the pro-Netanyahu demonstration had anticipated a higher turnout, having sought and received permission for 3,000 to rally. Supporters of the prime minister held up placards saying “Netanyahu forever” and “With you all the way.” Participants also shouting “Death to the leftists.”
A paramedic treats Carmi Gillon, a former head of the Shin Bet security service, at the protest encampment outside the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem on Thursday August 20, 2020. Gillon’s hands and arms were scratched and bloodied in confrontations with police ordered to clear out the encampment to allow Netanyahu supporters demontrate there later in the day. (Photo: Crime Minister)
Earlier on Thursday, police evacuated by force anti-Netanyahu protesters — among them two former senior defense officials — outside the Prime Minister’s official residence in Jerusalem so that the demonstration of right-wing supporters of the premier could be held there that evening. During the “clearance operation,” police also removed the protest tent at the corner of Balfour and Ben Maimon Streets that had been there for several months ever since the weekly demonstrations held at the spot began.
Among those removed by police to make room for the right-wing demonstration were former Shin Bet chief Carmi Gillon and retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Amir Haskel. “We tried to speak to police, we listened to each other, but there was no progress,” Gillon told The Times of Israel. “I’m willing to be arrested to protect my right to protest, which is a sacred right in my eyes.”
Haskel said that police had earlier told them they wouldn’t have to leave so that the pro-Netanyahu protest could take place. Haskel said that the police reversal of this decision manifested a blatant double standard against anti-Netanyahu protesters. When similar pro-Netanyahu protest encampments were there during demonstrations against the prime minister, police had never asked the former to leave.
Rami Matan, a colonel in Israel’s military reserves and a regular anti-Netanyahu protester, had suggested that, in preparation towards their clearance, the protesters handcuff themselves to one another to make their evacuation by the police more difficult. According to Matan, the police began by clearing the protesters that were not handcuffed and then proceeded to clear those who were handcuffed using excessive violence. “They pushed us to the ground, injured us, jammed us up against fences, they almost broke one person’s hand,” he said. “And we are talking about demonstrators who are who are between 40 and up to 70 plus years of age…they [the police] don’t care.”
Protesters have been holding regular rallies for several months outside the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem, as well as in Tel Aviv and other areas, calling on the premier to resign due to his indictment on corruption charges. They have been joined by people protesting the government’s economic policies during the coronavirus pandemic, with crowds in the thousands and rising.
In the regular anti-government demonstration held near the Likud rally in Jerusalem on Thursday evening, police arrested four protesters on “suspicion of disturbing public order after they refused to listen to police instructions.” One of those briefly detained at the anti-Netanyahu protest had come with his 11-year-old daughter. Uzi Anter said his daughter boarded the police bus and argued with officers until they agreed that her father would not be taken into custody but instead report to the police station for questioning on Sunday. “They put me on the bus and my girl fought for me. They allowed her to get on after she did not give up,” Anter told journalists.
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