Nava Rozolyo, a leader in the Israeli protest movement that seeks to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from office, recently boasted about encouraging the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for the premier.
In an interview on Oct. 29 with the far-left podcast Hamutzim, Rozolyo, head of the Shame Guard Corps protest group whose purpose is to harass elected officials at their homes, said, “The rallies do send a message to the world, to the Biden administration, to the tribunals in The Hague. They see the protests and understand that the government doesn’t represent the Israeli public. Very similar to Iran.”
According to Rozolyo, the goal of the ongoing anti-government protests is not to convince Israeli voters of a need for political change, but rather to have Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and the security establishment remove Netanyahu from power without an election.
She explained, “The purpose of the demonstrations is to strengthen and speak to everyone who, in the end, is able to pressure those who can overthrow the government. I think there will be arrests and personal sanctions against the leaders of the coalition.”
Rozolyo said, “I also appeal a lot to the tribunals in The Hague so that they speed up the arrest warrants for Netanyahu.”
Channel 14 noted Rozolyo’s close ties to Yair Golan and his far-left The Democrats party, saying she spoke alongside the politician last week.
Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar, a member of the ruling Likud Party, said Rozolyo’s were “an unprecedented low and everything that is bad in our country.”
In a statement posted to social media, Zohar called on Israeli authorities to investigate the protest leader on charges of treason and aiding the enemy during wartime in order to “put an end to this phenomenon.”
On Nov. 21, the ICC issued warrants for Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas terrorist leader Mohammed Deif, even though the latter has been reported dead by both Israel and Hamas.
Asked by JNS last week about what is expected now from Netanyahu and Gallant given the ICC’s decision to greenlight the warrants, court spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah said they should turn themselves in.
In July, Golan called on Israelis to join daily “strikes, protests and acts of civil disobedience” in an attempt to bring down Netanyahu’s coalition.
Accusing the opposition of “narcissistic” politics, he urged all citizens to “tell the government that we will not continue to pay taxes according to the law, go to work and perform all the duties imposed on us so that this government can take our money, steal it and invest it in places without national consensus,” according to a readout published by Calcalist.
The next Israeli national election must be held by Oct. 27, 2026, unless the Netanyahu-led government falls and an early vote is called.
While 60% of Israelis are dissatisfied with the government’s handling of the wars on the southern and northern borders, the majority believes that early elections would hurt the war effort, according to a poll conducted by Direct Polls for JNS in July.