JERUSALEM: Thousands of Israelis demonstrated outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence in central Jerusalem late Saturday, demanding he resign over his trial on corruption charges and what is widely seen as his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic.
With Israel reporting record levels of new coronavirus cases each day, the country appears to be headed toward a nationwide lockdown this week ahead of the Jewish New Year.
Saturday’s demonstration came a day after Israel announced an agreement to establish diplomatic relations with Bahrain, the second Arab country to normalize ties with Israel in under a month and just the fourth overall.
But the surprise announcement had little effect on the thousands of demonstrators, who have been gathering outside Netanyahu’s residence every Saturday throughout the summer. Protests against Netanyahu over his corruption trial have expanded to include demonstrations against his handling of the health crisis and the resulting economic pain.
Late Saturday, police detained several protesters.
Israel earned praise last spring for its early handling of the virus crisis, moving quickly to seal the country’s borders and appearing to bring an outbreak under control.
But Netanyahu has come under criticism for reopening the economy too quickly in May. Since then, new cases have soared, the government has been blamed for mismanaging the resurgence and unemployment has soared to double digit levels. Many struggling workers and business owners fear another closure will be devastating. Many of the demonstrators are unemployed.
Last week Netanyahu announced overnight curfews on some 40 cities and towns hit hard by the coronavirus, but backed away from reported recommendations for full lockdowns after an uproar by politically powerful religious politicians.
Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes for his role in a series of scandals involving gifts and alleged favors exchanged with wealthy associates.
He denies any wrongdoing and accuses police, prosecutors and the media of conspiring to oust him. He has dismissed the protesters as “leftists” and “anarchists.”
Thousands of Israelis protest outside Netanyahu’s residence
https://arab.news/2nhbs
Thousands of Israelis protest outside Netanyahu’s residence
- With Israel reporting record levels of new coronavirus cases each day, the country appears to be headed toward a nationwide lockdown this week ahead of the Jewish New Year
- Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes for his role in a series of scandals involving gifts and alleged favors exchanged with wealthy associates
Netanyahu says Israel and Hamas will enter ceasefire’s second phase soon
- Says the second phase addresses the disarming of Hamas and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza
- Second stage also includes the deployment of an international force to secure Gaza and forming a temporary Palestinian government
TEL AVIV, Israel: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel and Hamas are “very shortly expected to move into the second phase of the ceasefire,” after Hamas returns the remains of the last hostage held in Gaza.
Netanyahu spoke during a news conference with visiting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and stressed that the second phase, which addresses the disarming of Hamas and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, could begin as soon as the end of the month.
Hamas has yet to hand over the remains of Ran Gvili, a 24-year-old police officer who was killed in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war. His body was taken to Gaza.
The ceasefire’s second stage also includes the deployment of an international force to secure Gaza and forming a temporary Palestinian government to run day-to-day affairs under the supervision of an international board led by US President Donald Trump.
A senior Hamas official on Sunday told The Associated Press the group is ready to discuss “freezing or storing or laying down” its weapons as part of the ceasefire in a possible approach to one of the most difficult issues ahead.
Netanyahu says second phase will be challenging
Netanyahu said few people believed the ceasefire’s first stage could be achieved, and the second phase is just as challenging.
“As I mentioned to the chancellor, there’s a third phase, and that is to deradicalize Gaza, something that also people believed was impossible. But it was done in Germany, it was done in Japan, it was done in the Gulf States. It can be done in Gaza, too, but of course Hamas has to be dismantled,” he said.
The return of Gvili’s remains — and Israel’s return of 15 bodies of Palestinians in exchange — would complete the first phase of Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan.
Hamas says it has not been able to reach all remains because they are buried under rubble left by Israel’s two-year offensive in Gaza. Israel has accused the militants of stalling and threatened to resume military operations or withhold humanitarian aid if all remains are not returned.
A group of families of hostages said in a statement that “we cannot advance to the next phase before Ran Gvili returns home.”
Meanwhile, Israeli military Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Sunday called the so-called Yellow Line that divides the Israeli-controlled majority of Gaza from the rest of the territory a “new border.”
“We have operational control over extensive parts of the Gaza Strip and we will remain on those defense lines,” Zamir said. “The Yellow Line is a new border line, serving as a forward defensive line for our communities and a line of operational activity.”
Germany says support for Israel is unchanged
Merz said Germany, one of Israel’s closest allies, is assisting with the implementation of the second phase by sending officers and diplomats to a US-led civilian and military coordination center in southern Israel, and by sending humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The chancellor also said Germany still believes that a two-state-solution is the best possible option but that “the German federal government remains of the opinion that recognition of a Palestinian state can only come at the end of such a process, not at the beginning.”
The US-drafted plan for Gaza leaves the door open to Palestinian independence. Netanyahu has long asserted that creating a Palestinian state would reward Hamas and eventually lead to an even larger Hamas-run state on Israel’s borders.
Netanyahu also said that while he would like to visit Germany, he hasn’t planned a diplomatic trip because he is concerned about an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, the UN’s top war crimes court, last year in connection with the war in Gaza.
Merz said there are currently no plans for a visit but he may invite Netanyahu in the future. He added that he is not aware of future sanctions against Israel from the European Union nor any plans to renew German bans on military exports to Israel.
Germany had a temporary ban on exporting military equipment to Israel, which was lifted after the ceasefire began on Oct. 10.
Israel kills militant in Gaza
The Israeli military said it killed a militant who approached its troops across the Yellow Line.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israeli forces have killed more than 370 Palestinians since the start of the ceasefire, and that the bodies of six people killed in attacks had been brought to local hospitals over the past 24 hours.
In the original Hamas-led attack in 2023, the militants killed around 1,200 people and took more than 250 others hostage. Almost all the hostages or their remains have been returned in ceasefires or other deals.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed at least 70,360 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says that nearly half the dead have been women and children. The ministry is part of Gaza’s Hamas government and its numbers are considered reliable by the UN and other international bodies.
