Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent decision to dissolve his war cabinet, thousands of Israelis took to the streets of Jerusalem on Monday to demand elections and the immediate return of hostages being held in the Gaza Strip.
The protests outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, highlighted the conflicting pressures the Israeli prime minister faces from opposing elements of Israeli society.
Last week, two relatively moderate ministers resigned from the emergency war cabinet that Netanyahu formed in response to the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, citing differences over how to wage the war against Hamas in Gaza. Far-right members of Netanyahu’s coalition had called for them to be appointed to the war cabinet, but Israeli officials said the prime minister told his ministers at a wide-ranging cabinet meeting on Sunday that he was dissolving the cabinet.
Among those in the crowd outside the Knesset on Monday were Parliamentary opposition leader Yair LapidVideos posted on social media showed the protests, with some demonstrators holding banners reading “Lead this country into tomorrow,” in a nod to the end of the war in Gaza.
An Israeli police statement said police assisted the rally near the Knesset, but no arrests were immediately reported.
But confrontations appeared to escalate further after some protesters broke through police checkpoints and broke off the march to Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem. Insurgents met there regularly throughout the war.
“You are the leaders, you are responsible,” the activists shouted in front of the prime minister’s office. Pictures showed the activists gathered around a bonfire. Water cannons were fired and at least nine people were arrested. Israeli police said in a statement that some of the protesters attacked police officers, several of whom suffered minor injuries.
Israeli police said in a statement about the fire that “lawful freedom of expression and protest will continue to be recognized, but violations of the peace and riots will not be tolerated.”
The anti-government protests this week are not related to a weekly Saturday night rally in Tel Aviv organised by the Forum of Families of Hostages and Missing People, which represents the families of hostages held in Gaza. The group held another meeting in Sderot on Monday about efforts to bring the hostages home.
Anti-government activists are planning new protests in front of the Knesset on Tuesday.