British protesters have promised to take to the streets of London this Friday as Benjamin Netanyahu makes his first official visit to the UK since 2019.
His visit, the third in his tour of European capitals in the last several weeks, will be a brief affair and is not believed to include any communal meetings.
Netanyahu, who returned to government at the end of 2022, is expected to use the occasion to “sell” his policies to Number 10, maintaining that the judicial reform proposals will not affect Israel’s commitment to being a democratic society.
But as Netanyahu’s foreign programme has increased, so too have the protests against his government’s proposed “judicial overhaul”.
Besides thousands out on the streets in Israel, there has been an escalation in protests in Europe, led and inspired by Israeli ex-pats.
Officially and publicly, the only appointment in Netanyahu’s diary during his whistlestop visit — from Thursday to Saturday night after Shabbat — is a meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
No details of other meetings have yet been released.
Netanyahu received short shrift from the German Chancellor Otto Schulz who told Mr Netanyahu bluntly that he should accept Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s compromise proposal.
His London visit comes on the heels of a visit by his Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, who signed a Memorandum of Understanding this week with his opposite number, James Cleverly. Britain’s ambassador to Israel Neil Wigan was in London, too, for a series of innovative Science Days held by the British Council, further cementing the generally good relations between the two countries.
But Sunak will be aware that his guest will face a wave of demonstrations on Friday. Defend Israel Democracy has spent most of the time since last week’s Parliament Square rally in preparations for an all-day demonstration on Friday, close to where the two prime ministers are due to meet in Westminster.
One of the organisers, Dr Sharon Shochat, explained that Friday’s protest would be “a different format” from the Parliament Square event. Rather than have the thousands expected addressed by individuals, the plan is to have the day broken into small items of music and performances, together with what they call “Speaker’s Corner” events during the day. She believes that most of the participants will, like Parliament Square, comprise 50/50 Israelis and British Jews.
There are presently no plans for Netanyahu to meet Jewish communal leaders. The demonstrators plan to conclude their protest with a Kabbalat Shabbat to be conducted by Rabbi Lea Muhlstein.
