Demonstrations against the judicial reform started this Saturday evening throughout the country. This is the 39th week with the focus of the demonstrations as every week, at the Kaplan junction in Tel Aviv.
The demonstrators first gathered in Dizengoff Square and from there went on a protest march to the Kaplan intersection in the city.
A short time ago, dozens of protesters descended on Ayalon North Road in the area of the Halacha Interchange, blocking it to traffic - and erected a Sukkah there under the name "Sukkat Hatikva." Some of the protesters even handcuffed themselves to the sukkah.
At the same time, according to the protest headquarters, additional demonstrations are being held in more than 100 centers throughout the country, including Jerusalem, Modi'in, Ariel, Rosh Ha’ayin, Rehovot, and more.
The main demonstration will feature the singer Dana Berger, another artist who joined the ranks of the protest. Among others, protest leader Professor Shakma Bressler, former Deputy Chief of Staff Major General Dan Harel, and Yoav Friedan, principal of Urban High School A for the Arts, met. Following the protest, central streets in Tel Aviv were blocked to vehicle traffic starting at 5:30 p.m. to the instructions of the police officers stationed at the roadblocks and to use alternative ways.
Across the country
In the city of Rehovot, a protest march was held at the Science Park intersection, under a message in the spirit of Sukkot, "Sholomit builds a constitution" - the intersection was blocked to traffic by the police. At the demonstration, among others, Mehereta Baruch-Ron - a social activist and former deputy mayor of Tel Aviv, and Yishai Sarid - a writer and lawyer, spoke.
Baruch-Ron said in her speech, "As someone who experienced exile, as someone who prayed for 'Jerusalem' / the Land of Israel. It is clear to me that the State of Israel is on guard with us - for all the Jews in the world, it is the refuge we did not have, and it is our only refuge. The coalition of doom has no mandate to destroy it. We have no mandate to lend a hand to its destruction. We have no mandate to stop fighting for democracy because without democracy there is no national home, no State of Israel."
Kaplan also made sure to organize a protest performance in the spirit of the holiday - near the Sharona compound, a "Sukkat Tikva" was opened, which includes, among other things, a representative made of signs and protest posters produced by the organizations in the past year.
At the same time, hundreds of protesters came to a protest in Sefer Square in Haifa, led by the student protest. The students opened the demonstration with a moment of silence in memory of those murdered in Arab society following the severe massacre in Basmat Tabun last Wednesday.
As part of the demonstration, the activists set up the "Horror Films" performance, inspired by the annual film festival held in Haifa during Sukkot. As part of the performance, posters from well-known movies were presented in a topical spirit, such as "Zero in Foreign Relations", "Indiana Jones and the Robbers of the Treasury" and "Rotman's Horror Show".
"Kaplan Force" reported, "This week, the campaign of the destruction government to crush the justice system continues, while making threats against the judges of the High Court of Justice. The threats of the return of dictatorial legislation with the return of the Knesset and the hostile takeover of the media emphasize the depth of the danger. A constitutional crisis is approaching, it is time to close ranks and make it clear to the government of destruction that the future of the State of Israel will be determined by the hundreds of thousands who will go out to fight for Israel's liberal and democratic image. Together we will win."
The headquarters of the "Free in our Land" struggle said that "in the face of the most determined and powerful civil resistance in Israel's history, a camp of millions of citizens who are united against the destruction of democracy, on the other side they are using the only weapon they know: incitement, division, and divisiveness. This will not work for them. We will not let them continue what they have been doing for years. We will not allow them to divide us."
According to them, "the fight for democracy unites secularists, traditionalists, and religious people who love Israel and want to preserve a Jewish and democratic state in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence. We will fight for our country until we win."