Hundreds of left-wing Israelis protested once again on Tuesday night in Jerusalem outside the Prime Minister’s Residence and in Tel Aviv outside Public Security Minister Amir Ohana’s apartment building.
The demonstrations outside Ohana’s apartment were in response to a leaked recording of Ohana exhorting the Jerusalem police district commander to crack down on the anti-Netanyahu protests, saying that the protests involve “vandalism that shouldn’t be tolerated.” The “black flag” protesters stood outside Ohana’s building yelling anti-police chants.
The protestors blocked major roads twice during the demonstrations, which lasted until 4 a.m., before they were evacuated by the police, which led to violence. Four protestors were arrested for assault and disturbing public order.
Protestors reported being attacked by “far-right” demonstrators and claimed that five protestors had to receive emergency treatment at the hospital, including two protestors with stab wounds.
There were reports that the left-wing protesters were attacked by a group of men in blacks shirts who pummeled them with glass bottles, bats, and chairs and sprayed them with pepper spray.
According to a report on Army Radio, the attackers were members of “La Familia” – a group comprised of Beitar Jerusalem soccer fans who have a reputation for violence and were allegedly involved in a similar attack on protesters in Jerusalem last week.
Tel Aviv residents then woke up to a different type of anti-Netanyahu demonstration on Wednesday morning. A protestor had erected a life-sized art exhibit of Netanyahu sitting at a “fancy dinner” table set with abundant food and drink and digging into a large cake with a depiction of the Israeli flag on it. The table also held large sums of cash, empty liquor bottles and a cigar, a reference to Netanyahu’s ongoing legal woes.
תיעוד: מיצג המחאה בכיכר רבין בתל אביב@dorm1212 https://t.co/3Ux8NSgFAB pic.twitter.com/zGSWjL9egI
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) July 29, 2020
Itay Zlait, the artist who created the exhibition, told Walla News that the scene represents Netanyahu’s “Last Supper” or democracy’s “Last Supper.”
“Netanyahu sits here alone and is eating all this food by himself while there are a million unemployed hungry people who are losing their homes,” Zlait said.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev (Likud) slammed the exhibit, saying: “On Erev Tisha B’av, there are those who choose to kindle more and more hatred and division among us.”
“Is someone hinting that the future of the prime minister should be like the future of the [one at] the Last Supper?!…It’s only a matter of time until a gallows exhibit will appear. This is beyond incitement, it’s a call to action. I call on [Tel Aviv Mayor] Ron Huldai to stop closing his eyes and immediately remove this inciteful display.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)