Day of Disruption: ‘I’m afraid we are going to see bloodshed in two weeks’

Tens of thousands of Israelis protested across the country on Thursday as “Day of Disruption” brought chaos to highways and intersections, including Ben-Gurion Airport. 

The demonstrations across Israel have grown bigger and become more frequent in recent weeks as the government advances its judicial reforms which will significantly weaken and politicise the High Court of Justice.

In Tel Aviv, thousands of protesters managed to break through a police blockade set up to prevent them from entering the Ayalon highway. Police then began forcibly removing some of the demonstrators.

National security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had warned ahead of the mass protests across the country, that he wouldn’t allow “anarchists” to block any highways. Twenty two people were arrested throughout the day.

Demonstrators were shouting “where were you in Huwara?” at police forces, yelling that they should be ashamed of themselves for using time and energy on a demonstration in Tel Aviv when they failed to prevent settlers in the West Bank from carrying out a pogrom in the Palestinian town of Huwara.

As demonstrators took to Avalon Highway, hundreds walked in the opposite direction, blocking several key roads in Tel Aviv on their way.

Israeli poet Ilan Sheinfeld, who joined the protest in Tel Aviv, handing out pamphlets in Hebrew with collections of “resistance” poems, spoke to Jewish News and said: “Now that democracy is in danger, all the problems of Israel’s society have come out; homophobia, anti-women sentiments, the occupation and so on. So I see it in a possible light, but I’m afraid that in two weeks we are going to see bloodshed.”

Sheinfeld, known for being one of the first openly gay writers in Israel, also said that he supports the many reservists in the Israeli army who have announced they won’t show up for duty if the judicial overhaul isn’t halted:

“Netanyahu can’t expect us to be his cannon fodder, or the donkeys of the Messiah. They must understand that we won’t continue to pay taxes if the government insists that ultra-orthodox won’t go to the army at all.”

Another protester, Gary Brenner, also supported the Israeli reservists refusing to show up for duty, saying they had created a “shockwave” throughout the country.

“If you don’t create mayhem before dictatorship, when do you create it? This is a classic example of how to stop it before it happens, not trying to figure out afterwards how to put an end to it,” Brenner told Jewish News.

“You see different sectors of Israeli society coming together in a way I have never seen,” he added.

Whilst the biggest protest took place in Tel Aviv, university students and high-tech employees in the northern city of Haifa blocked a key junction. Elsewhere in northern Israel, farmers drove their tractors on the highway to slow traffic.

Ben Gurion Airport was also a target for protesters in cars who wanted to prevent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from flying to Rome,% where he was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Netanyahu’s trip was indeed delayed as police tried to disperse the protesters blocking the entrance to the airport, but the Prime Minister’s office said the reason was that he wanted to meet with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who is visiting Israel on Thursday.

In the afternoon, protestors also gathered outside economy minister Nir Barat and justice minister Yariv Levin’s private homes in Jerusalem and Modiin, respectively.