Protesters waved blue and white Israeli flags and chanted “Elections now.”
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Jerusalem on Sunday against the government of Benjamin Netanyahu and an exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men from military service, in scenes reminiscent of last year’s massive street protests.
Protest groups, including some leading the massive demonstrations that rocked Israel in 2023, organized rallies outside parliament calling for new elections to replace the government.
Protesters also want the burden of military service for most Israelis to be shared more equally. Some 600 troops have been killed so far since the October 7 Hamas attack and subsequent war in Gaza, the highest military casualty toll in years.
Israel’s N12 News said this appeared to be the largest demonstration since the war began. Haaretz and the Ynet news website said it attracted tens of thousands of people.
Netanyahu’s cabinet has faced widespread criticism over Hamas’ attacks in southern Israel that left 1,200 people dead and more than 250 people taken hostage in Gaza.
“This government is a complete failure,” Nurit Robinson, 74, told the rally. “They are going to lead us into the abyss.”
Israel’s war in the Palestinian enclave has exacerbated long-standing frictions in society and rattled Netanyahu’s coalition government – with ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students exempted from serving in the country’s conscripted military.
With a March 31 deadline looming for the government to enact legislation to resolve a decades-long stalemate on the issue, Netanyahu last week filed a last-minute petition with the Supreme Court seeking a 30-day delay.
The Supreme Court gave government officials until April 30 to submit more arguments, an apparent compromise. But in an interim ruling, it also ordered a suspension of state funding for seminary students who were drafted into the military starting Monday.
Protesters waved blue and white Israeli flags and chanted “Elections now.”
Netanyahu told a news conference in Jerusalem that he was confident a solution would be found. He also said holding the election at the height of the war, when he said Israel was so close to victory, would paralyze the country for months.
In Tel Aviv, some family members of the hostages and their supporters blocked a major highway to protest Netanyahu’s failure to repatriate their loved ones.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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