Likud Party lawmaker Tally Gotliv accused anti-government protesters on Wednesday of “cynically exploiting the pain of the families of the hostages” in order to bring down the country’s right-wing coalition.
“It’s a shame and disgrace, and they should be ashamed of doing this while strengthening Hamas,” she told JNS at the Knesset.
Thousands of anti-government activists blocked major traffic arteries in the Jerusalem area on Wednesday as part of protests against the Israeli government, the Israel Police said.
“We call on protesters to continue demonstrating legally, follow officers’ instructions and avoid disturbing the order in the city,” the statement added.
The main demands of the renewed rallies against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government are to halt renewed airstrikes in the Gaza Strip and return to negotiations with Hamas, as well as to stop the dismissal of Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chief Ronen Bar.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid Party) urged his followers to take to the streets, accusing the country’s right-wing governing coalition of “tearing us apart; it is not legitimate.”
Yesh Atid’s Karine Elharrar told JNS that the Jewish state’s democracy remains “fragile” and has to rely “on strong balances and gatekeepers.”
“The government seeks unchecked power, and we must not allow it—we have a duty to protect our democracy. We must safeguard our country because we have no other,” Elharrar said, adding: “We must protest for the return of the hostages [held by Hamas in Gaza] and new elections.”
Several dozen protesters blocked the Route 1 highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as they marched toward the capital to join the main rallies taking place outside the Knesset and Prime Minister’s Office.
Nissim Vaturi, a lawmaker for Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party, told JNS on Wednesday that the protest groups “don’t accept the results of the elections in Israel” and are seeking to overthrow the government.
“They can’t replace Netanyahu, so they choose the path of riots,” he said. “The public chose Netanyahu, that’s democracy.”
According to a survey carried out by Israel’s Direct Polls Institute and published by Channel 14 on Monday, nearly three in five Israelis back the resumption of fighting in Gaza in the wake of Hamas’s rejection of a U.S. proposal to extend the truce in exchange for freeing more hostages.
The poll, which was taken before the resumption of the war, also showed that, if elections were to be called now, Netanyahu’s coalition would win 64 mandates, up one since a March 6 Direct Polls survey, and the same amount of Knesset mandates it received in the November 2022 vote.