• Tue. Mar 19th, 2024

Demonstrations against Netanyahu increase as Israel heads for a hasty election

Dec 7, 2020

On Saturday In Jerusalem, several thousand demonstrators converged outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official home with calls that he steps down as Israel heads to an election soon.

The demonstrators have held meetings each week for the last six months. They state that Netanyahu should resign because of his corruption case and what they described as mishandling of the coronavirus crisis in the country.

The demonstrations started the previous spring when Netanyahu and Benny Ganz, his main competitor, reached a consensus to create what they termed as an emergency state. It aimed to find a solution to the health and financial problems arising from the virus pandemic.

Their joint efforts have not been successful because of infighting, and two lockdowns affected the economy badly and led to the doubling of unemployment figures.

Since the beginning of the winter season, the number of people has started to decrease. However, on Saturday, the participants were still loud and angry. Almost all of them wore masks, even though not everyone adhered to social distancing.

Ganz, who works as Netanyahu’s Defense Minister, supported the opposition this week in endorsing a preliminary procedure to suspend parliament and push for new elections. He mentioned that the government did not pass a budget.

The last vote to dissolve parliament may happen as early as the coming week. Whatever the case,  approval for the budget should be passed by 23 December. If it does not happen, it will automatically lead to the collapse of the troubled government and cause an early election.

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