Ariel Yahav, 39, a programmer in a London financial technology company, said: “I’m an Israeli and this is a protest for the lifeblood of our country. I think that recently our government has become drunk with power. They think they can change the structure of how an Israeli democracy works so that whoever is in power has all the power. They want to take away the breaks from our shared core so we’re all fighting to keep a little bit of that safety of checks and balances on power.
“The protest shows our brothers and sisters in Israel that we support them, that we’re together with them.”
One placard on display at the demonstration (Photo: The Jewish Chronicle)
A 35-year-old Israeli woman, who did not wish to be named, said: “We are protesting for the future of Israel because the current prime minister is trying to turn it into a dictatorship and step all over the principles of democracy. We are showing solidarity with our friends and family in Israel who spent all night in the street and are not going to work today to fight for the rights to live in a democratic country.”
Her friends and family in Israel are “very worried and they feel like this will determine whether it’s the end or if we’ll prevail and get the prime minister to do what he should and go to jail. There are criminal charges against him and this whole thing is just for him to avoid going to prison. So everybody is very hopeful and very scared.”
A word cloud to describe the Israeli demonstrations. Prominent words featured are those which come up when speaking to the protestors.
An Israeli tourist, who asked not to be named, said she has been protesting every Saturday night and Thursday over the past 12 weeks. “I’m here visiting a friend, but I felt I can’t stay here without being with my brothers and sisters in Israel. We feel that someone is stealing our country and we want to make sure that we keep it for our kids.
“We’re protesting for democracy, legitimacy and no violence. We’re trying to make sure we keep our country our country. And for me it’s mostly about women’s rights. We’re the ones who will suffer from this the most. All these extremist men are trying to steal everything we built and our grandmothers built.”
One Protestor held a sign calling to 'Defend Israel's Democracy' (Photo: The Jewish Chronicle)
One of the organisers, Gabriela Scutz, said that while the reforms had been suspended, she still does not believe Netanyahu “because he’s trying to do a deal with Itamar Ben-Gvir and if he’s passing the reform, as he calls it, he will be given his army.
“Netanyahu and his ministers are destroying the country completely. It’s a coup. They are now encouraging people to fight against the people who are demonstrating in Israel. All of Israel is now on strike so it’s solidarity with our brothers and sisters.”
Explaining why one protester was carrying a Pride flag, Gabriela said: “It’s about liberties which they’re trying to destroy. The only reassuring thing is that there’s a big force of people gathered and they’re already thinking about creating a political movement out of it.”
(Photo: The Jewish Chronicle)
Yoav, 20, and Omri, 20, said: “We are very patriotic Zionist Jews but this is threatening the foundation of Israeli democracy. The majority of Israelis in Israel and here can’t support a kind of reform that is so blatantly antidemocratic and fascist.”
(Photo: The Jewish Chronicle)
If the plans do go ahead? “Israel will become a Jewish Iran. I honestly see a civil war,” said Yoav. “This is a point of no return that whatever little we can do, we have to do.”
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