Israeli settlers held the largest protest since October 7 against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, potentially signaling an eminent end to his coalition government.
On this Sunday, tens of thousands of Israeli settlers gathered in different occupied cities across Israel and held a massive protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The gathering was one of a kind because it was the largest in regard to the number of participants since the start of the war between Hamas and Israel on October 7. In what also made this gathering different was that for the first time, the families of the Israeli prisoners being held by the resistance in Gaza, who usually hold separate rallies, joined the massive crowds of anti-government protesters. The families of Israeli prisoners have recently shown extreme frustration over Netanyahu’s sabotaging of an exchange deal with Hamas
Protests against Netanyahu in Israel started a few months ago with the controversial decision he made regarding the overhaul of Israel’s judicial system in favor of his government. “The rallies are over, the protests have just begun,” said the spokesman for the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, Haim Rubinstein.
Israeli police intervened in the protest!
A few hours after the massive protests began, Israeli police intervened with violence and detained over a dozen people, using water cannons against the protesters who had blocked major roads in Tel Aviv.
Also in Jerusalem, protestors clashed with police, where hundreds of Israelis rampaged through police barricades in order to protest outside Netanyahu’s home in the occupied holy city. Several protesters were arrested by the police while cutting off roads near the prime minister’s residence.
A number of other occupied cities across Israel were also scene to massive protests, including Sderot, Or Akiva, and Beersheba.
The massive protests across Israel followed a statement released by prisoners’ families a day earlier on Saturday. In the statement, they accused Netanyahu of doing nothing to bring the prisoners back to Israel, labeling him as an “obstacle to a prisoner exchange deal.”
A day before, some members of the families of imprisoned soldiers in Gaza met with Netanyahu, expressing deep annoyance and anger over the failure to reach an agreement. Around a thousand protested outside the Israeli defense ministry in Tel Aviv, demanding an immediate prisoner exchange deal.
Netanyahu’s days are numbered; the Israeli media warns!
On March 29, 2024, Israel’s the Hill published a report titled “Is Netanyahu’s coalition on the verge of collapse?” stating that two important factors have put Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government in danger of falling.
They include the significant reduction of the US support for the continuation of the Gaza war, especially when Washington implicitly approved the recent Security Council resolution demanding for ceasefire in the war, and the intensification of internal disputes in the Israeli government over canceling the exemption of more than 60,000 ultra-Orthodox Israelis from military service.
Nevertheless, the report also suggested that despite all the obstacles, Netanyahu still continues his pro-war policies with false confidence based on the fact that in recent polls, more than half of the Israeli settlers still agree with the continuation of the war.
But Sunday’s massive protest against Netanyahu signaled a strong message to the Israeli Prime Minister that he may not have the support he thought he has from Israelis anymore. “This false confidence can finally overthrow his government within a few days,” the report said.
