Thousands of people, Jews and Arabs, gathered in Haifa on Saturday evening, May 31 calling to end the war and occupation and for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Thousands of people gathering in Haifa calling to end the war and occupation and for the establishment of a Palestinian state, Saturday evening, May 31, 2025 (Photo: Zo Haderekh)
The large-scale demonstration was initiated by the “Peace Partnership” coalition, which includes over 40 organizations, including the Communist Party of Israel and Hadash and protesters called out slogans as, “The people demand cease-fire now,” “Free Gaza,” “Free Palestine,” and “From the river to the sea, we refuse genocide.”
Lawmaker Ayman Odeh, head of Hadash-Ta’al parliamentary faction, addressed the crowd the Haifa protest on calling to end the war and establish a Palestinian state, saying, “Gaza won, and Gaza will win.” “The [Israeli] government is a government of war crimes. The Israeli government is calling for genocide, and when we say these are crimes against humanity, it gets outraged. We will say it to their face: this is genocide, this is ethnic cleansing.”
he added.
MK Odeh called the current circumstances of the war “a historic loss for right-wing ideology.” He then commended the protesters in Tel Aviv, the vast majority of whom are Jewish, including many who oppose the far-right government, but do not necessarily view the occupation of the West Bank and the war crimes in Gaza, “We value you and your persistence, but we cannot accept that you don’t see the crux of it all. The judicial coup came from the occupation, and there is no democracy with occupation.”
“Gaza has won, and Gaza will win,” he said, drawing condemnation from the right wing and Zionist parties. “Israel has become a pariah state across the world, among all nations and in the West. After more than 600 days of war, a majority among both Israeli and Palestinian peoples say: ‘If only those days had never happened.'” “The [Benjamin] Netanyahu government has normalized the war, and we will normalize the opposition to it,” he continued. “This demonstration marks a turning point in the struggle to end the war, both in the number of participants and in the sharpened political messages.”
Odeh also addressed the weekly anti-government protesters calling for a hostage-ceasefire deal. Turning back to the crowd, Odeh said: “You are the overwhelming majority in the world, you are on the right side of history and the future. The Israeli government is calling for genocide, and when we say these are crimes against humanity, it gets outraged. We will say it to their face: this is genocide, this is ethnic cleansing.”
Reem Hazan, the spokeswoman for Hadash and main organizer of the march said that the police refused to authorize the protest. When asked to explain the motive for the delay, the head of the Haifa police station said that the demonstrations slogan, “Palestinian State Now,” could cause “the bringing of Palestinian flags and harm public safety.” “Despite police attempts to cancel the demonstration and suppress freedom of expression the only answer to the attempts at suppression is a joint Arab-Jewish struggle against silencing,” she said after the demonstration. Despite the fact the protest’s slogan was not changed, the march was approved by the police after several petitions from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI).
Sivan Tahel, director of the ACRI’s Freedom of Protest and Expression Department, noted that since the beginning of the war the police have routinely delayed responding to requests to hold demonstrations or public events against the war until the very last moment, sometimes just hours before the event.
This systematic policy of postponement, which is not limited to Haifa, prevents organizers from being able to prepare properly, consider alternatives, or turn to legal authorities within a reasonable time. Tahel noted that the organization had already petitioned the Supreme Court in a similar case, when the police delayed responding to a request for a protest permit until the final hours before the demonstration was meant to take place. The police granted the permit only after the petition was filed, and the court ordered the police to pay the costs associated with the delay.
In the end, the Haifa police granted the permit for the demonstration, but imposed several conditions, some of which were unusual and highly unreasonable. In response, ACRI submitted a third petition on May 27 emphasizing that the police are required to refrain from directly or indirectly influencing the content of the protest or the political and ideological affiliation of the organizers and participants. “We demand that the demonstration on May 31 be allowed to proceed in accordance with the conditions that were agreed upon with the organizers and without restrictions on the content of the messages during the demonstration. In response to ACRI’s petition, the Haifa Police walked back many of the conditions they attempted to impose on the protest, allowing the protest to take place as planned,” Tahel said.
In Tel-Aviv, on Saturday evening, the police barred dozens of activists from the human rights organization “Looking the Occupation in the Eye” from entering the protest area near the defense establishment headquarters on Begin Road. The protesters bearded anti-war signs, including a sign that called “refuse crimes against humanity.” The police said that they acted to “prevent friction.”
Speaking before thousands of anti-government, pro-hostage deal protesters outside the Begin Road entrance to the army headquarters in Tel Aviv, Michel Illouz, father of slain hostage Guy Illouz, says Netanyahu is willing to hurt the captives, and is inciting violence within Israeli society and turning the country less democratic. Illouz says he’s “very worried for the future of the State of Israel… which becomes more dictatorial every single day.” After speeches, protesters light a bonfire on the street, sending up a large column of dark smoke. Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, said earlier on Saturday that she recently learned that her son had nearly suffocated from toxic gases released in a tunnel where he was being held, which collapsed following an Israeli airstrike. Zangauker said “The only thing standing between us and the return of the last hostage is Netanyahu’s refusal to end the war.”
On Friday, all 61 detainees who were arrested Wednesday night during an anti-government demonstration at the Likud party headquarters in Tel Aviv were released from detention under various conditions. During the protests, dozens broke into the Likud party’s Metzudat Ze’ev headquarters building in Tel Aviv, and some chained themselves to the stair railings outside of Netanyahu’s office. At the same time, hundreds demonstrated outside the building and blocked the street, leading police to forcibly remove many protesters over several hours.
