Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening to protest against the government saying that it used the sense of emergency over the past six weeks after the U.S.-Israeli military operations against Iran to move forward with its own bitterly-contested internal agenda.
Some of the restrictions for the demonstration were lifted earlier in the week after a ceasefire was announced between the United States and Iran.
"This is a terrible government, for the last three years working against its citizens all the time. We are protesting against the judicial reform that the government is imposing, anti-democratic moves, not to recruiting the orthodox people to the military," said Benny, a protester.
The resumption of the long-running corruption trial involving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the debate over a controversial draft law, the even more controversial judiciary overhaul, none of them has gone anywhere.
With no imminent danger of missiles from Iran, at least for the short term, demonstrators here feel it is time to raise their voices.
"Everything has been turned so politically that instead of the country binding together, we just separate more and more. Plus in the background, the Netanyahu government is passing all sorts of non-democratic laws that only make the situation work," said Nancy, another protester.
The war may have taken a pause when it comes to central Israel but restrictions still apply.
Gatherings are allowed for up to 1,000 people although the police were told not to disperse the crowd even if numbers are bigger.
"I am not looking here to fight with the police. I hope they are not looking to fight with us and I believe that it will be a peaceful event," said Benny.
Israelis protest against gov't in Tel Aviv
Israelis protest against gov't in Tel Aviv
Israel's influence on the Trump administration outsizes the already significant sway it held over previous presidencies, contributing to miscalculations that ultimately led to strikes on Iran and putting the temporary ceasefire at risk, said a U.S. expert.
After about 40 days of deadly clashes, the United States and Iran reached a two-week ceasefire on Wednesday, with Israel supporting the truce. However, the truce remains deeply fragile, especially as Israel continues to attack Lebanon, which Iran has called a violation of the ceasefire and threatened a strong response if it continues.
However, the power of the Israel lobby in the United States, especially over the Trump Administration, may weaken its ability to rein in Israeli military action, said Anton Fedyashin, an associate professor at American University.
"The Trump administration has no one but itself to blame. Although it is acting in a very important context, which is the general, enormous influence of the Israeli government over all American administrations, except that under Trump, this influence of course is greater than ever before. Israel has a very powerful lobby in the United States. This is absolutely no secret; not only articles, but very good books have been written about this," he said in an interview with China Global Television Network.
Fedyashin said this influence, combined with poor intelligence, contributed to what he described as a misjudgment that Iran's government would easily fall.
"The problem is that while previous presidents have managed to somehow resist that lobby, Donald Trump seems to have completely fallen for Benjamin Netanyahu's case to convince him that the attack on Iran will be lightning fast, will achieve results very quickly. And this becomes a very important question about the quality of Mossad information, because along with Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House meeting, which happened on February 11, at least according to New York Times, was the head of the Israeli Mossad, and both Netanyahu and the head of Mossad were convincing Trump that Iran's government is on its last legs, that all it needs is a slight push, and that was a catastrophic misjudgment," he said.
US influence over Israel limited as attacks on Lebanon threaten to shatter ceasefire: expert
