The Japan Times - Israelis return to streets in anger over Netanyahu's policies

"We've all been taken hostage by the government of blood," some chanted.

Others called for the long-serving Netanyahu to stand down, yelling: "You're the head, you're to blame for this catastrophe" -- a reference to the failure to prevent Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, which led to full-blown war in Gaza.

On Tuesday, Israel launched a series of deadly air strikes on the Palestinian territory after a nearly two-month ceasefire that largely halted violence and saw the handover of 33 Israeli hostages seized during the Hamas attack.

Among the banners held by protesters in Jerusalem were many calling on the government to end the war and return the hostages, with some reading: "We are all hostages."

Some relatives of the hostages still being held in Gaza also joined the protest, after expressing anger that the decision to resume strikes could "sacrifice" their loved ones.

Of the 251 hostages seized during the Hamas attack, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

"We want him to know that the most important issue is to get the hostages back," Nehama Krysler, 67, told AFP, explaining why she was protesting outside Netanyahu's house.

Arriving from across the country, protesters marched by foot the final ascent into Jerusalem early in the morning, first rallying outside the parliament, and then sitting down defiantly on the black asphalt as close as they could get to Netanyahu's residence.

A tense police force manned makeshift barricades around the protest, which grew throughout the day.

By the afternoon police said that four protesters were arrested for "attempting to break through the protest area fences".

Wednesday's demonstration was organised by a broad conglomeration of anti-Netanyahu groups, who called to protest the premier's move to oust Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet internal security agency.

Similar protests were widespread throughout the year leading up to October 2023.

At that time, the government had been attempting to reform the country's judicial branch, a move that was halted when the war broke out.

But it has returned to the government's agenda in recent weeks as attorney general and government legal adviser, Gali Baharav-Miara, has contested some of Netanyahu's moves.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin has been clear about his intentions to remove Baharav-Miara from her position.

- 'Democracy under threat' -

"They still want to change the judiciary because they want to do whatever they like without any limits," Raffi Lipkin, 76, from Tel Aviv said of Netanyahu's government.

"Our democracy is under threat from this government."

Opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid joined the protest, saying "he had come to tell the world what is happening to our democracy."

In a post on X on his way to the demonstration, Lapid said: "This government is tearing us apart, it is dismantling us, it is an illegitimate government and we are taking to the streets."

"The protest is to stop this government from taking Israel on this awful path, to losing our democracy," said Eyal Ben-Reuven, 70, a former parliament member and vocal Netanyahu critic.

"This prime minister needs to go home, he has failed and by staying in power, he is hurting the country and its citizens," Ben-Reuven, a retired army general, told AFP.

Earlier, outside the parliament, 18-year-old Roni Sharon, a student from the city of Rehovot, told AFP that she had skipped school to join the protest.

"This is my country, and at this rate we won't have a country left -- not a democratic one. It will be a dictatorship," she said.

M.Ito--JT