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Protesters renewed their rallies against extremist policies in the occupied territories as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed for New York to deliver a speech at the UN General Assembly.
Those who campaign against his coalition regime’s moves have vowed to hound Netanyahu during his travels and scheduled meetings.
As Netanyahu was leaving for New York, thousands of protesters gathered at Ben Gurion Airport. Demonstrators in Tel Aviv began the evening by staging their march from Rothschild Boulevard. Many were clad in white for the Rosh Hashanah holiday, and some carried a large banner that declared “The dictatorship will collapse”.
As well as the main rally in Tel Aviv, protests were held at dozens of locations around the occupied territories, reported the Times of Israel, including Al-Quds Haifa, Rehovot, Eilat, Karkur and Kiryat Tevon.
There was a growing outcry on Monday after Netanyahu accused protesters of “joining forces with the PLO and Iran” in their activities against him abroad.
“There is no person who has destroyed our image in the world more than Netanyahu in recent months,” opposition leader Yair Lapid said.
Another opposition leader leader Benny Gantz said Netanyahu was causing “tremendous damage” to Israel, and no amount of speeches at the United Nations would be able to repair it.
“It’s time to stop the ‘coup d’état’ and bring order” to the regime, instead of blaming the protesters, he said.
Yisrael Beytenu party chief Avigdor Liberman attacked the premier for “shameless lies.”
“You are the one who is dismantling Israeli society from within, you are the one who proves to all of us every day that you act solely in accordance with your personal interests, even if it means that Israel will burn down,” Liberman said.
Labor party leader Merav Michaeli drew a parallel between Netanyahu’s comments and past accusations that he encouraged incitement that led to the assassination of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, or at least contributed to the incendiary political climate in the run-up to the murder. Netanyahu has rejected such claims.
“Netanyahu has built his entire political career on incitement and bloodletting — he did it to Rabin and now he is doing it to the protesters in Kaplan,” Michaeli said, referring
to the street where weekly anti-overhaul protests are held in Tel Aviv. “It’s time to stop being shocked by the lies and poison this man sows, and demonstrate with all our might to send him home.”
Mass protesters are also set to greet Netanyahu, over the course of his U.S. visit with a first stop in San Jose, California, and then New York.
On Sunday evening, protesters from the UnXeptable activist group projected “Welcome to Alcatraz Bibi” and “Netanyahu is a dictator on the run,” with an image showing Netanyahu in inmate’s uniform, onto the wall of the infamous California jail ahead of the premier’s arrival on the West Coast.
Last week, activists projected a giant message onto the UN Headquarters building in New York, saying: “Don’t believe Crime Minister Netanyahu.” Activists said the message was projected onto the building for about 30 minutes.
The anti-overhaul protests have drawn hundreds of thousands of people for 37 consecutive weeks, from many sectors of society including academics, business leaders, legal professionals, military and security experts, reservists, members of the security establishment, and members of the vaunted high-tech sector.
Abroad, expat activists have proved to be a persistent thorn in the side of ministers and Knesset members during recent visits to New York and other cities in the U.S., using a network of sympathizers to pursue the lawmakers wherever they appear.
