Thousands protested against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again throughout Israel Saturday night, November 14, outside his official residence in Jerusalem as well as several thousand others who demonstrated in Tel Aviv and Haifa. Several hundred also demonstrated near Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea. Regular protests in squares and on highway overpasses throughout the country were also reported. Members of Hadash and the Communist Party of Israel participated in all demonstrations and vigils and set up protest points in Haifa, Nazareth, Taybe, Sakhnin, Deir Hanna, Shefamr, Acre, Umm al-Fahem, Kafr Yasif and other Arab towns.
MK Youssef Jabareen (Hadash-Joint List) during a protest organized by the front in the Galilee; the Hadash placard by a woman protester in the mid-ground reads in Arabic “Down with the occupation and exploitation”; in Hebrew it reads “No to annexation, no to discrimination.” (Photo: Zo Haderech)
In Jerusalem, protesters outside of the official residence mounted a huge Trojan horse prop they said represented Israel’s captivity in the hands of far-right politicians. With the weather cooling down ahead of the rainy winter season, turnout Saturday appeared to be lower than in recent weeks. Protesters marched outside an apartment owned by Netanyahu on Haportsim Street in Jerusalem to his official residence on Balfour Street.
Earlier, 24 people were arrested during clashes with police after hundreds marched along the major Route 1 highway to Jerusalem, near Abu Gosh. Police said the march was held without permission, while activists insisted they had received approval beforehand.
As with every week, protest movements reported several incidents of violence directed at demonstrators around the country. Protesters at the Chords Bridge at the entrance to Jerusalem reported that a rock was thrown at them, as did demonstrators at an intersection outside the central city of Ramat Hasharon. The rock thrown near Ramat Hasharon broke the rear window of a car. Protesters at an intersection in the north of Israel reported that a man was injured by a can that was thrown at him while others told of a bottle being thrown at a protester on Route 4 in the north, hitting him in the head. The Black Flag movement issued a statement connecting the violence at protests to Netanyahu saying, “The incidents of violence tonight are a direct result of Netanyahu’s incitement… Anything is better than the continued rule of Netanyahu, even elections.” Last Thursday and Friday, November 12 and 13, more gatherings were held in Tel Aviv, Beersheba, Rehovot and Nahariya, where previous marches by demonstrators ended in clashes with police, alleged violence, and arrests.
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