TEL AVIV: Carrying anti-war banners and chanting slogans against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hundreds of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest the war with Iran.
Demonstrators gathered in a central square, holding signs that read: “Don’t bomb - talk! End the endless war!” despite restrictions on mass gatherings imposed during the conflict with Iran.
“Police are trying to silence our voice,” Alon-Lee Green, the co-director of Israeli-Palestinian grassroots group Standing Together, told AFP.
“We are here to demand an end to the war in Iran, the war in Lebanon, and the war in Gaza which is still going on, as well as an end to the pogroms in the West Bank.
“In Israel, there’s always a war. So, if we’re not allowed to demonstrate, we will never be allowed to speak,” he added.
Green and several other protesters were soon detained by police, an AFP correspondent reported.
Protesters also voiced scepticism about the government’s justification for the war with Iran.
“I’m very suspicious of the reasons. I think the main reason is that Bibi wants to stop his trial,” said Cecile, 62, who gave only her first name, referring to Netanyahu with his nickname.
Netanyahu is on trial in a long-running corruption case and has sought a presidential pardon, with US President Donald Trump repeatedly pressuring Israeli President Isaac Herzog to grant one.
In a video statement released on Saturday evening, Netanyahu vowed to press ahead with the military campaign against Iran.
“I promised you that we would continue to strike the terror regime in Tehran, and that is exactly what we are doing,” Netanyahu said.
“Today, we attacked their petrochemicals hub,” he added, after announcing strikes on Iran’s steel-producing facilities the day before.
“These two things are their cash machine for funding the war of terror against us and against the entire world. We will continue to strike them,” he said. Protester Cecile said the reasons for the war kept shifting.
