Thousands protest against Netanyahu for second week in Tel Aviv
The ruling Likud party released a statement expressing its anger at the protest.
By MOSHE COHEN - MAARIV HASHAVUA, JPOST.COM STAFFUpdated: DECEMBER 10, 2017 10:19Thousands of Israelis protest against Netanyahu. (REUTERS)
Approximately 25,000 protestors took to Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard on Saturday evening to oppose alleged corruption at the highest echelons of Israeli government and called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign.A small counter-protest of dozens of Likud supporters opposed the anti-Netanyahu crowds, who gathered for a second week on the iconic boulevard.The ruling Likud party released a statement expressing its anger at the protest, stating that the Israeli Left was dividing the nation at a time when unity is required."On the very evening that Prime Minister Netanyahu has traveled to represent the State of Israel against attacks on the historic declaration of President Trump, and at the same time as there are protests across the Arab world in which flags of Israel and the US are being torched, in Tel Aviv there is also a left-wing protest."A protestor with a Benjamin Netanyahu balloon at an anti-corruption protest in Tel Aviv, December 9, 2017 (AFP Photo))In addition, the Likud statement said: "Instead of uniting all the nation behind Jerusalem and presenting the world with a united front, the Left cannot stay quiet and prefer to divide."Zionist Union chair Avi Gabbay responded to the Likud statement, saying, "Instead of combating the corrupt leadership culture, the Likud again chooses to divide the Jewish people. In a government free from corruption, it is easier to deal with Jerusalem and easier to represent the country in the world. A corrupt government must go."Gabbay added: "Again this week our youth have taken to the streets with thousands more against corrupt leadership culture. Despite attempts, corruption is not a topic for political disagreement, it is not a matter of Left versus Right, it is an illness that damages the security, health and education of Left-wing and Right-wing voters as one."
