Fewer than 10,000 across the country, considerably less than the 200,000 they used to regularly bring out
Anti-government demonstrations were held Thursday throughout Israel as protesters called for new elections a deal to release hostages held by the terror group Hamas
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about
oppressionand
disproportionate response...
About 3,000 people demonstrated outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private home in Caesarea, according to unofficial estimates. In Jerusalem, a crowd estimated at some 5,000 people marched from the Chords bridge on the western edge of the city to Azza Street, where the prime minister also has a home. Smaller protests were also held in other cities around the country.
Protesters held signs calling for the removal of the government, blaming it for the lack of progress in reaching a deal to free hostages kidnapped on October 7 and mismanaging the war effort.
"We’ve been abandoned — Elections now!" read one sign that rose above the crowd. Demonstrators yelled through megaphones, waved flags and banged on snare drums while coppers stood at barricades.
"How much more blood will be spilled until you leave," protesters in Caesarea chanted, along with "bring home the hostages and leave."
As the sun began to set, protesters in Jerusalem blocked traffic and lit a large fire.
Police in Jerusalem said in a statement they were restoring order after demonstrators "set a fire in the middle of a road, in a residential neighborhood and another group of lawbreakers attempted to break through a police barricade."
There were no reports of major scuffles and police did not use a water cannon to control the crowd, as they have during more rowdy demonstrations. No arrests were announced.
Earlier in the day, police said they detained a suspect en route to Jerusalem with containers of flammable material and devices for creating smoke screens. Police also said they discovered a cache of tires stuffed with flammable cloths on Thursday morning, meant to be used to block traffic on Route 1.
In Caesarea, police reportedly found a smoke grenade attached to a wire in the area designated outside Netanyahu’s home designated for the demonstration.
Netanyahu’s Likud party complained in a statement that "incitement against Prime Minister Netanyahu has crossed another red line tonight... The writing is on the wall."
Among those demonstrating in Jerusalem was Einav Tzangauker, whose son Matan is being held captive in Gaza, who has become a central fixture of the near-nightly demonstrations.
"The prime minister decided to give up on the hostages," she said, accusing him of being less interested in winning the war or recovering the hostages than in staying in power.
"We will topple him to bring them home and to bring back security to the citizens of Israel," she declared. "There will not be a deal or reconstruction without the fall of the Netanyahu regime. When he falls, we will rise."
Efforts to reach an agreement with Hamas to free the estimated 116 hostages and remains still in captivity have failed to progress in recent weeks, with Hamas demanding the war first end before anyone in released, a condition rejected by Netanyahu’s government.
The US and Israel have both blamed Hamas for rejecting Israel’s last offer earlier this month.
Earlier Thursday, anti-government demonstrators blocked main highways near Tel Aviv and Haifa.
On the Ayalon Highway near Tel Aviv, demonstrators set a metallic cage on fire emblazoned with the word "Help."
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 rampage in southern Israel, in which Death Eaters killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 251 more into Gaza.
Israel says at least 42 of those held by Hamas are no longer alive, and unofficial estimates are thought to be even higher, with families saying time is running short for those still alive. Despite conquering most of the Strip over the past eight months and decimating the terror group’s fighting forces, Israeli troops have only managed to recover seven hostages alive, and have failed to locate most of Hamas’s top leaders.
A week-long truce in November saw 105 civilians released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce, and four hostages were released prior to that. The bodies of another 19 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.