Rallies are planned across the city throughout the week until Saturday, with organizers promising ‘surprises all over the city’
Several hundred demonstrators gathered on Tuesday in Times Square, New York, to protest against Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the United States, against the backdrop of judicial reform. Mostly Israeli, the protesters waved Israeli flags reading “Free in our country”, a phrase from the national anthem, while they chanted “Democracy or rebellion” and “shame”. “If there is no equality, we will overthrow the government, you have the wrong generation,” they also shouted.
Earlier, demonstrators had marched in front of the Israeli Prime Minister’s hotel, accompanied by a truck displaying a sign accusing him of “destroying democracy”.
Many of these demonstrators are expatriates living in the United States, while others, traveling in the country, decided to make a detour to New York for the occasion. Some did not hesitate to equate “the fight for democracy in Israel with Ukraine’s fight against Putin.”
Similar rallies are planned across the city throughout the week until Saturday, with organizers promising “surprises all over the city.” Before New York, other protesters gathered in front of Tesla headquarters in Florida denounced the meeting between Benjamin Netanyahu and Elon Musk.
The visit is Netanyahu’s first to the United States since returning to power in December. He is accompanied by Economy Minister Nir Barkat, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman, as well as his wife Sara. Just before leaving Israel, the head of government sparked a lively controversy and fueled the protest movement by accusing the demonstrators of “associating themselves with the PLO and Iran”. A subsequent statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, however, claimed that these remarks had been misunderstood, and that Benjamin Netanyahu meant that demonstrators would not hesitate to rally alongside pro-PLO and pro-BDS activists, without mentioning ‘Iran.
Since Tuesday, the Israeli Prime Minister has increased his meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. After meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he will meet American President Joe Biden this Wednesday.
2023-09-20 07:21:16
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