In Israel the “secular state” in the streets against the coalition of Benjamin Netanyahu

They are 40 this morning Thursday, March 30, in front of the US Embassy branch in Tel Aviv, taking turns on the loudspeaker. The murmur of the sea does not carry some of the blue and white Israeli flags. “Thank you, Biden!”, shouts a man, applauded by passers-by. The day before, the President of the United States insulted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stating that he was not invited ” immediately “ in the White House and by expressing, for the first time, the evil he contemplates of the Supreme Court reform that this government has promoted.

These protesters are not giving up, though Mr. Netanyahu bowed to their movement on Monday, March 27, announcing ” break “ A month after his reform, which aims to liberate the executive authority from any independent judicial oversight, sparked the largest uprising in the country’s history since January. Saturday 1^any In April, the organizers were planning new massive processions. “We just passed the first stage. It’s going to be a marathon.”One of them, Josh Drill, warned in front of the US Embassy.

They clap for the police

Mr. Drill is part of the organizing committee for the so-called “umbrella movement,” which is helping to organize the logistics in this unprecedented wave of rage without clear direction. “Everything comes from the base. If I get arrested tomorrow, nothing will change, the demonstrations will be completely decentralized.”says the 26-year-old, who once worked with Likud MK Nir Barkat when he was directed to oust Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mr. Drill, a political science student, dedicates his dissertation on the impact of the Internet on social movements in Hong Kong, Brazil… and in his own country, which has never seen such a phenomenon before. It is the secular Israel that is rallying against what the demonstrators call it “coup”, a systematic effort to crush checks and balances — starting with the Supreme Court — in the name of the most extreme right-wing and religious government agenda in history. These protesters are peaceful, they want to defend the state and the established order, they applaud the police, flood the streets with flags, and sweep the sidewalks behind them. They express their love for the judges, the director of the Central Bank and economists in the Ministry of Finance who warn of the consequences of reform.

Josh Drill doesn’t think they’re in the majority: the country has been leaning more to the right since the 2000s. But the protesters “The backbone of Israel”. Parliamentarians from the ruling coalition see themselves “deep state” Israel: Ashkenazim (Eastern European Jews) and globalized, which still maintains the upper echelons of the military and which fuels a thriving high-tech sector.

You have 72.81% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.