Fascist assailants physically attacked Saturday evening, May 17, anti-government protesters demanding the end of the war in Gaza and a hostage deal during demonstrations in Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem, Rehovot, Kiryat Ono and Gomeh Junction in Upper Galilee.
In Tel-Aviv, a gang of Kahanists attacked former Hadash MK Dov Khenin, a leading member of the Communist Party of Israel, and his wife on their way to the anti-war protest at Begin Road in front of the Israeli army headquarters. In the central city of Rehovot the attackers yell, “King Bibi,” referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while other rips an Israeli flag carried by one of the protesters.
Following the assaults on former MK Khenin in Tel-Aviv and anti-government protesters in Rehovot by supporters of Netanyahu, a second group of protesters in Kiryat Ono were assaulted while taking part in a demonstration outside an event featuring Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in the central town of Kiryat Ono. Videos posted by anti-government activists to social media appear to show a violent scuffle outside the event, as well as people identified as far-right government supporters clashing with police.
Around 50 protesters hold last week a silent demonstration in front of Tel Nof Air Force Base, holding images of murdered children and mourning the killing of Palestinians in Gaza (Photo: Omri Eran Vardi /Activestills)
Protests demanding the release of hostages held in Gaza and opposing the Netanyahu government were held across Israel on Saturday evening. In Tel-Aviv, hundreds left-wing protesters, among them Hadash and Communist activists, hold up candles and pictures of Gazan children killed by the Israeli occupation forces. Also, in Jerusalem and Haifa, activists carried photos of Gaza children murdered by Israel. Past week, there was a similar silent demonstration in front of the Tel Nof Air Force Base in Central Tel-Aviv.
At a separate rally in Tel Aviv’s Habima Square, focused on opposition to the Netanyahu government, former prime minister Ehud Barak called for “civic revolt” to bring down the government, saying Netanyahu was “acting impulsively, like a caged animal.”
“A black flag of illegitimacy flies over every one of its actions, and it’s our civic duty to act in every way possible for its downfall, before it marches us into the abyss,” said Barak, speaking before thousands of protesters.
Ahead of the protests, families of hostages gathered at the Defense Ministry before the weekly demonstration at Begin Road in Tel-Aviv to deliver a public statement. Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is being held in Gaza,
denounces Prime Minister Netanyahu as “the angel of death” for captives. Zanguaker says, “Netanyahu is dragging us to a political war that will lead to the death of hostages and soldiers,” as the occupation army initiates a new deadly operation in the Gaza Strip. “You have one mandate only – to reach a comprehensive agreement for the return of all the hostages and to end this cursed war,” she said. “Netanyahu, if we discover that you have once again sabotaged a comprehensive deal, we will launch an all-out war against the government.”
Omri Lifshitz, son of hostage survivor Yocheved and of Oded, who was killed in Gaza captivity, emphasized the need to end the war in Gaza during his speech. “My parents are further proof that military pressure does not bring hostages back; it kills them,” he said. “The fate of the hostages still alive must not be like that of my father, who was kidnapped alive and paid the ultimate price for being abandoned,” Lifshitz said.
On Friday night Zvi Sukkot of the Religious Zionism party said in an interview with Israeli television that no one cares that almost 100 Palestinians died in Gaza overnight, “because everyone has gotten used to the fact that 100 Gazans can be killed in one night and it doesn’t interest anyone in the world.”
The ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza since October 2023 has so far resulted in at least 53,272 documented Palestinian fatalities, with over 120,673 others injured and thousands of victims are feared trapped under rubble, inaccessible to emergency and civil defense teams due to Israeli attacks.
According to NBC, the Trump administration is working on a plan to transfer one million Palestinians to Libya, in exchange for billions of dollars in aid funds that had been frozen, three of the sources quoted in the report said that Israel has been kept in the loop about the administration’s talks on the matter.
US network that it remains unclear where one million Palestinians from Gaza could be settled in the largely lawless Libya, which has been plunged into chaos and division since the 2011 civil war in which longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown and killed. The NBC report also noted the “logistical challenges involved in transporting one million people from Gaza to Libya, particularly with no airport in the Strip.”
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32648
