• Middle East: Coronavirus outbreak in Israel deepens political divide
  • Executive: The Israeli Supreme Court gives the green light to the government agreement between Netanyahu and Gantz

The first stars of the night appear in the Jerusalem sky as the cry "Bibi a Baita !, Bibi a Baita!" It spreads in the center of the city with the same intensity with which the second wave of the coronavirus hits Israel. Even the few who do not know Hebrew at the demonstration outside the official residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu understand the chant uttered by nearly 10,000 throats. "Bibi (as the Likud leader is known) home," they exclaim from their face masks at the biggest protest in Jerusalem since two weeks ago started what some young people yearn for is a "revolt."

The pandemic has raised unemployment and tension rates in a country fractured around Netanyahu . Because of his corruption cases now on trial, his attacks on the attorney general, failure to avoid the second wave of the virus after overcoming the first, and his financial management in recent months, Netanyahu has received the most widespread criticism since he came to power in 2009. After surviving a year with three elections and the imputation for bribery, fraud and breach of trust, a rotating government agreed in May with the centrist leader Benny Gantz who does not serve as a shield but quite the opposite since he is famous for being wasteful (35 ministers) and it is not to the liking of the center-left who feels betrayed by Gantz or the right.

Bibi is facing the new wave of the coronavirus (the spread of a virus that has caused 464 deaths since March) and protests unfolded this Saturday at 250 bridges and intersections from the north to the south of the country. Waving black flags, thousands of citizens protested "the corrupt government" as a preamble to the most economic demonstration held in Tel Aviv and the most political demand in Jerusalem.

A few meters from the Prime Minister's armored residence on Balfour Street, we find Uri arriving with a special mask: the Netanyahu mask. A resource that guarantees protection against the Covid-19 and camera attention. "I am here to denounce him why he remains in power despite being tried for corruption and why he uses the coronavirus for his political benefit ," he accuses.

"The destroyer of Israel," reads the banner of Marva Erez. According to this adviser on emotional issues, "Netanyahu has labeled those on the left as something illegitimate and has caused a great internal fracture. One can be of the right or the left, but to be a bibist (Bibi's faithful) is to be deceived by their rhetoric We will continue until he resigns. "

As the minutes go by, more protesters arrive at the adjacent Plaza París in a political, musical (drums, horns, saucepans and even a mini-orchestra) and cultural event (improvised plays). The participants, who mix anger, boredom, energy and hope, come from all over the country: veteran Army reservists, centrists angry with Gantz for having made a pact with Netanyahu, leaders of the Zionist left, young communists, pro-Palestinians against the occupation in the West Bank, ultra-orthodox supporters or expectant viewers of the street event, former Likud voters, activists from the LGBT community, ...

After five hours, the noisy demonstration comes to an end . A huge group of young people perform a sit-in on a central street. The numerous police officers - until then spectators in the distance - approach to evacuate them. First with the megaphone. After a few minutes, several uniforms mounted on horseback and, as a colophon, the powerful water cannons. "Yala, in the shower," some protesters sing wryly as several are detained amid struggles outside a hotel without tourists. Curious summer dawn in Jerusalem.

His Followers

According to Netanyahu's supporters, who appear in small numbers, "they are trying to kill him because they cannot do it at the ballot box . " Netanyahu defends the "importance of guaranteeing the right of the demonstration" but, dragged perhaps by the radicality of his son Yair on Twitter, accuses the media of "exaggerating" the number of participants in "political demonstrations organized and financed by the left" . "I ask all the protesters to respect the sanitary slogans and not degrade the symbols of the State as we saw in the shameful Menorah show in the Knesset," denounced the young woman who climbed a few days ago to the Jewish chandelier located in front of Parliament and showed her breasts. "Does my body degrade the state? What it demeans is having a prime minister charged with corruption," he replies, claiming that he wanted to focus on the poor economic situation of social workers.

Many return to the summer of 2011 when the largest social protests in Israel's History broke out. So the goal was to end the high cost of living. In the summer of 2020, it is to remove Netanyahu from power, who faces an unprecedented health and economic crisis and a trial that will force him to go to court three times a week from January. To get ahead of that scenario and the foreseeable deterioration of the situation, Netanyahu is looking for the crack (the budget) in the complex agreement with Gantz that allows him to liquidate the shaky coalition, avoid rotation in 2021 and hold new elections in 2020 to obtain the majority (61 out of 120 deputies) of the right-wing bloc.

"I hope he loses," says Elisabeth Shorer in Jerusalem. Of Chilean origin and a supporter of the left-wing Meretz party, she has lived in Haifa for 20 years. Despite the 150 kilometers away and the risk of contagion, Shorer decided to go to the demonstration. "As a citizen, I felt that I should come. Bibi must leave because she is corrupt and because she has managed the coronavirus crisis very badly," says EL MUNDO, showing her banner in Spanish "The united people will never be defeated." The people of Israel, however, are very divided. The fear is that the tense division will cause violence in the streets where the virus that lit the wick of the protest also acts as a fire extinguisher.

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Know more

  • Israel
  • Benjamin Netanyahu
  • Benny Gantz

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