The last protest was on Tuesday night. The next is Thursday night, with more protests scheduled for the weekend. As public frustration grows with the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, the anger fueling the protests shows no signs of subsiding.
The protesters are angry for different reasons, but everything is directed at Netanyahu. Gathered by hundreds of people near the Paris Square in Jerusalem, they block the streets and honk horns. Economic protesters wave banners saying, “Netanyahu is suffocating us.” Anti-corruption protesters have signs that read “crime minister.”
Restaurateurs became the last group to participate in the protests, angered by the changing rules and regulations on how, and if they can, operate, with banners saying, “This is the final meal.”
On Friday morning, the cabinet issued an emergency order for restaurants to have to close their doors to customers that night, with only take-out and delivery orders allowed. When restaurant owners complained that they had already bought groceries for the weekend, the cabinet postponed the request. Instead, they were ordered to close early on Tuesday morning.
However, by noon Tuesday, a Knesset committee overturned the cabinet’s decision and they were able to reopen with limited seats. The head of the committee said the decision was based on epidemiological data that she said showed that restaurants are not a major source of infection.
“If it wasn’t so frustrating and sad, it would have been fun,” said Itamar Navon, chef-owner of the Mona restaurant in Jerusalem. Like many restaurant owners, Navon promised to remain open, even if it meant challenging a government directive. Changing rules, and the frequency with which they change, has become a major source of frustration for restaurants seeking clear guidance on how to operate.
“We are businessmen. We know how to run our business. We know how to calculate our models, but we need some answers,” said Navon. “We cannot allow the government to play with us all day. And it really feels like they are playing with us and playing with each other rather than taking this crisis seriously.”
Navon, along with staff members at his small high-end restaurant, joined the protest in front of Netanyahu’s official residence, using the food stock that would have been wasted to prepare free meals to distribute among the protesters against the Prime Minister.
“The idea behind this is that because the government and the state don’t take care of the people, instead of just throwing it away, we will serve food to people who cannot afford it, given the situation we have in the country at the moment,” said Barak Aharoni, a chef at Tel Aviv’s Alena restaurant, who came to deliver meals in Jerusalem on Tuesday night.
Prime Minister under pressure
The demonstration began outside the Prime Minister’s residence before protesters marched towards the Knesset. Shortly after midnight, when the permit for the demonstration expired, most of the protesters left the area, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told CNN.
Clashes broke out between the police and protesters who remained on the scene. Police say they arrested 34 people for causing public unrest. Israeli newspaper reports say they were all released later.
Netanyahu has a lot to think about today. His trial, accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, began about two months ago. He learned on Sunday that evidence would begin to be presented to judges and witnesses called to testify beginning in January. He has yet to make a plea and continues to deny all allegations, attributing his situation to a media-led witch hunt.
When the coronavirus crisis hit Israel in March, it placed itself at the center of the government’s response. She has credited Israel’s early success in containing the coronavirus, and even said in mid-April that she hoped Israel would be a model to the world on how to safely reopen.
But as the country finds itself in what officials have called a worsening second wave of infections, the public has largely blamed Netanyahu for the failures. From a peak of 57.5% in late March, Israel’s oldest leader has seen public confidence in his leadership drop to less than 30% now, according to polls from the Israel Democracy Institute.
The daily rate of new coronavirus infections continues to hit records in Israel. 1,977 new cases were registered on Tuesday, bringing the number of active cases to 31,313, according to figures from the Ministry of Health.
A total of 430 people have died from the disease in Israel since the start of the pandemic.
The prime minister was even challenged by his own Likud party in handling the coronavirus. His cabinet decisions on regulations and closings have been repeatedly overturned and overturned by the Knesset Special Committee to deal with the coronavirus, led by Likud MK Yifat Shasha-Biton.
In his role as chair of the committee, Shasha-Biton challenged the cabinet on Tuesday by allowing restaurants to open, after allowing beaches and pools to remain open earlier in the week.
On Wednesday night, Netanyahu, along with his health minister, appointed an outside figure to provide operational leadership to Israel’s efforts to defeat the coronavirus, appointing Ronni Gamzu, head of the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv and director general of the 2010-2014 Ministry of Health. as “national coronavirus project manager”.
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