Saturday, July 06, 2024

ISRAEL

Protesters call ‘shut down’ on Sunday, demanding elections on 9-month war milestone

Major companies announce workers may partake in rallies; anti-government activists say they will block throughways, call on Histadrut (UNION) leaders to strike in solidarity

By TOI STAFF
Today, 

Anti-government protests demand immediate elections at the Amiad Junction in northern Israel, July 6, 2024. (Shay Zeltzer/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)


Anti-government groups have announced a “day of disruption” on Sunday to demand new elections as Israel enters its tenth month since October 7, with 116 people kidnapped in the shock Hamas attack still languishing in captivity in Gaza.

Sunday’s demonstrations will form part of the “week of resistance” protest groups kicked off at their weekly protests on Saturday evening. The protesters said they would block major throughways on Sunday, including Routes 2, 4 and 6, and hold rallies across the country, culminating in a mass demonstration outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

The Kirya demonstration will follow a rally outside the Histadrut’s Tel Aviv offices to call on Israel’s largest labor federation to strike in solidarity with the protest groups’ demand for the government to step down. A demonstration is also planned for Sunday morning outside the Kiryat Ono home of Histadrut chief Arnon Bar-David, who has previously indicated his support for the anti-government protests.

Some of Israel’s leading companies, mainly from the tech and finance sectors, said they would let their workers take time off to join in the protests, which anti-government groups announced in late June.

The protests will mark exactly nine months since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages, mostly civilians, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.

Protest groups had rallied weekly since early 2023, when the government introduced its plan to weaken the judiciary. The demonstrations were paused for a few weeks after October 7 before returning full force to call for new elections, claiming the government has a moral imperative to regain the public’s trust after failing to avert the largest massacre in the country’s history.


Anti-government protesters block Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv as police use water cannons against them on July 6, 2024. (Lior Segev/Israeli Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

In recent months, the central anti-government protest in Tel Aviv has taken place in conjunction with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum rally calling for the release of their loved ones. Amid the war, protest groups have also doubled down on their opposition to legislation exempting yeshiva students from military service, which critics describe as a power-grab by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox coalition partners.

“Nine months have passed since the October 7 disaster, and we still have the same government on whose shift the inconceivable failure happened,” Eran Schwartz, the executive director of the “Free in our Land” coalition of protest groups, said in a statement, claiming ministers were abandoning the hostages, engaging in discrimination and “hanging on to their chairs at any price.”

“On Sunday we will ask the public to shut down the country, because this reality must change,” he added. “We won’t stop until a date is set for elections, and the country is back on track toward recuperation, unity and hope.”

It is believed that 116 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released prior to that. Seven hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 19 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military.

The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 42 of those still held by Hamas, citing new intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.

One more person is listed as missing since October 7, and their fate is still unknown.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.

Anti-government protesters start ‘week of resistance’ with Saturday rallies

Sunday will be ‘day of disruption’ with protests and rallies across the country demanding hostage deal and new elections, culminating outside Netanyahu’s Jerusalem home
6 July 2024

Anti-government protesters march to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house in Jerusalem, July 4, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Anti-government protesters were set to flock to Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square and to events throughout the country Saturday in weekly protests calling for a hostage deal and new elections.

The main Tel Aviv rally was set to begin at 8 p.m. and would be dedicated to the mothers of hostages being held in Gaza.

Protests groups have said Saturday’s rally will kick off a “week of resistance,” with Sunday, July 7 being a day of protests and disruptions to mark nine months since the October 7 attacks and the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

According to a schedule sent out by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the protest would begin with a featured video of Almog Meir Jan, who was rescued from Gaza by special forces last month.

The video would be followed by various speakers including released hostage Danielle Aloni, Meir Jan’s mother Orit, the mother of Tal Haimi who was killed by Hamas and whose body is held in Gaza, and the mothers of four other hostages still being held in Gaza.

Saturday night protests have in recent weeks been marked by violent clashes between demonstrators and police, with protesters injured by police water canons and arrests made.


Protesters demonstrate for a hostage deal and end to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, in Jerusalem’s Paris Square on June 29, 2024. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

Beginning with a protest in the southern Kibbutz Or HaNer at 6 a.m., Sunday’s protest schedule features rallies and protests at key intersections and major highways across the country.

The day was set to culminate with a march from Jerusalem’s Sacher Park to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home, where a rally would be held demanding he step down and set new elections.

Sunday will mark nine months since October 7, when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, murdering some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages, sparking a war with Israel.

It is believed that 116 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive. Recent days have seen Israeli officials express cautious optimism that indirect negotiations with Hamas for the release of hostages may be making progress.

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