As the Knesset summer session opens, protest organizations called on Israelis to take to the streets Monday, and demand a new government as part of a national protest day.
Protesters will drive in convoys around the country Monday morning, slowing traffic by driving at the lowest speed allowed by law. There will also be a march to the Knesset Monday evening and a protest there.
Convoys of vehicles will gather at points around the country. One of the convoys leaving from the South will be dedicated to the hostages, said Ayala Metzger, the daughter-in-law of hostage Yoram Metzger.
“The Knesset is convening for its summer session,” she said. “We need to apply pressure on the government to start to do everything to bring the hostages home. They are out of time.”
Protesters, families of hostages seek answers from Israel's leaders
“We heard [Defense Minister Yoav] Gallant, we heard [Minister-without-portfolio Benny] Gantz; they are talking but not yet acting. It is time to make them act because the hostages’ time has run out,” Metzger said.
“Leave your homes and make a difference tomorrow.... Just come to Jerusalem to the Knesset,” she said.
The protest is to “tell this failing government: enough!” said organizers. “Enough negligence with the hostage deals; enough negligence with equal division of the burden and draft dodging; enough negligence in the care for the North, South, and evacuees.”
Among the organizations affiliated with the protest are The Day After, The Hi-Tech Protest, Building an Alternative (Bonot Alternativa), and the academia’s protest.
“After the past few days, it is clear to all [that Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has given [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir and [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich the wheel,” said protest organization The Day After. “They are dragging us down to a national disaster that will destroy the country we all love so much.”
“The days of the Netanyahu government are almost over,” they said. “We need to save ourselves from this bad government.”
Residents of north call on local authorities to boycott meeting with Netanyahu
Residents of northern Israel called on local authorities to boycott a planned meeting with Netanyahu on Sunday, saying "we call on the local authorities not to cooperate with another extraneous meeting empty of content that will end with a PR photo and false promises of help."
"Join the majority of Israeli citizens in the clear demand from the government, that knowingly abandoned the north, the south, the hostages, and the rest of the country to resign and declare elections," added the residents.
"The fact that the meeting is being held behind walls far from the towns and residents of the north, illustrates the magnitude of the government's disconnect from the territory in the north," said one leader of the protests in the north.