Some 1,000 young Israelis marched in Tel Aviv on Friday as part of a global environmental protest coordinated by the Fridays for Future organization. Young protesters waved placards demanding systemic change to tackle the climate crisis and saying social changes can make a big difference.

Young Communists activists during the environmental protest held in Tel-Aviv, Friday, March 25, 2022 (Photo: Zo Haderech)

The participants in the demonstration gathered at the coastal city’s avenue, among them were activists from Hadash, the Communist Party of Israel and Young Communist Guard (Banki-Shabiba) waved red flags and anti-capitalists’ slogans. Marchers chanted numerous slogans throughout the protest, including “A generation demands a future”; “The people demand climate justice”; and “Jews and Arabs fighting together for the climate.”

The demonstrators demanded that the Israeli government declare a climate emergency. The aim of such a move would be to compel the state’s various branches to immediately take measures to reduce their contribution to global warming. Participants acknowledged that not progress were made by the Bennet government in measures to reverse climate change, and they said more needed to be done.

“Tomorrow is the day!” Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg tweeted on Thursday, attaching a poster for a “global climate strike” held on Friday. The Tel Aviv demonstrators called for Israel to pass laws requiring government authorities to act to cut greenhouse gases and to prepare for worsening climate crisis. The Fridays for Future movement, inspired activist Thunberg, made similar protests in cities around the world from Australia to Indonesia, the United States and throughout Europe.