Many thousands of demonstrators marched into Jerusalem on Wednesday morning in a renewed outburst of rage against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, over efforts to remove key security and judicial officials and renew highly controversial legislation to increase political power over the judiciary, and following the collapse of the Gaza ceasefire.
The massive protests came as the government seeks to oust Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, two officials who have drawn the ire of Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition in recent months.
Outrage over attempts to sack the two, coupled with the return to fighting in Gaza that has left the fate of remaining hostages uncertain, appeared to breathe new life into the anti-government protests.
In the morning, police blocked the main highway leading into the capital to traffic as protesters waving Israeli flags and yellow banners set out from Motza, on Jerusalem’s western outskirts.
“It’s time to end this madness before we don’t have anyone to save, before we don’t have a country left,” protest leader Shikma Bressler told the crowd before entering the city.
The protesters grouped up outside the Knesset at around noon, then proceeded to Netanyahu’s home, on Azza Street in Jerusalem’s upscale Rehavia neighborhood.
Activists leading the march held a large banner that read: “Enough of the government of destruction,” as the large crowds proceeded down Ben Zvi Boulevard, which police also closed to traffic.
Hundreds of others further up the road sat on the pavement while chanting for a deal to free the remaining hostages in Gaza, and in support of the top officials the government plans to oust.
“It happened to Ron Arad, it could happen to all of us,” they chanted, referring to the Israeli Air Force officer long presumed dead following his 1986 capture in Lebanon, and subsequent disappearance.
Many protesters held signs with slogans calling for an end to the war, while a handful carried signs calling on reservists to refuse as an act of defiance against Netanyahu’s government.
During a speech outside Netanyahu’s private home, protest leader Moshe Radman seemed to compare the government to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and other bitter enemies of the Jewish people.
“We got through Haman, we got through Pharaoh, we got through the British Mandate, we got through Hitler… we’ll get through them too,” he said through a megaphone to the applause of other demonstrators.
According to Ynet, Radman later attempted to soften his remarks, saying: “We don’t want a strand of hair to fall from Netanyahu’s head, we only wish for him to get booted from the government and sit in jail until his very last day.”
At the top of the street, near Netanyahu’s official residence, a group of silent protesters sat in the middle of Paris Square, blocking the intersection to traffic.
Jerusalem police said in the afternoon that they had arrested four people, including one armed counter-protester who threatened to harm demonstrators. “Over the course of the protest, dozens of participants began to disrupt the public order,” a law enforcement spokesman said, adding that many attempted to break through crowd control barriers.
Some protesters also used their cars to block off main streets in the capital without police authorization, in what the spokesman called “a blatant violation of the protest conditions agreed upon in advance between protesters and Israel Police in recent days.” He noted that police were planning to tow the vehicles.
Earlier in the day, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid called on people to take to Jerusalem’s streets, calling Netanyahu’s government “illegitimate.”
“We are taking to the streets because the Israeli government has lost its legitimacy,” Lapid declared in a recorded message. “We will not break the law, we will continue to serve, but we will stand firm against a government that is trying to dismantle the country.”