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Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in Jerusalem on Sunday evening in the largest protest against Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government since the war with Hamas began in October last year.
The protest, partly organized by groups that led a wave of anti-government protests last year, called for early elections and a deal to release the approximately 130 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
Carrying banners reading “Elections Now” and chanting slogans such as “You destroyed the country and we will fix it,” the crowd gathered outside the Israeli parliament before a few hundred tried to block Begin Boulevard, one of the main roads around Jerusalem .
Protest leaders said they planned to set up a tent city near parliament and would hold further protests until Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a small group of protesters rallied in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea She’arim demanding an end to the exemption for ultra-Orthodox religious students from compulsory military service in Israel.
The exemption dates back to a compromise worked out under Israel’s founding father David Ben-Gurion in 1948, but has long been a source of resentment for other Israeli Jews, who typically serve at least two years in the military. It became increasingly controversial during the war.
Police were deployed to keep protesters separated from ultra-Orthodox residents, with protest organizers saying ultra-Orthodox threw eggs at demonstrators.
At a prime-time news conference shortly before undergoing surgery to treat a hernia, Netanyahu responded to protesters’ calls for early elections, saying only Hamas would profit from it and insisting he was doing everything he could to ensure the release of the hostages.
“Demands for elections now during the war, just before victory, will paralyze Israel for at least six months; by my estimate, for eight months,” she said. “They will paralyze the negotiations for the release of our hostages and, ultimately, they will end the war before it achieves its objectives and the first to praise it will be Hamas, and that says it all.”
He also expressed confidence that the government could reach an agreement on compulsory conscription for the ultra-Orthodox. The issue is widely believed to have the potential to bring down his government. The administration includes ultra-Orthodox parties, determined to preserve the exemption, and former soldiers, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who want to abolish it.
The government was supposed to draft a bill on the issue by Sunday, but as the coalition failed to agree on a text, Netanyahu asked the Supreme Court on Thursday evening for another 30 days to reach an agreement.
The court granted Netanyahu’s request. However, in a move that increased pressure on the coalition to find a solution, he also ordered that, from Monday, the government suspend state subsidies for religious students who meet the criteria for conscription.
This move sparked a furious reaction from the two ultra-Orthodox parties in Netanyahu’s government, but the prime minister said Sunday evening that he still believes a solution can be found.
“We need to promote equality [of military service],”He said”[But] it can be done with a positive spirit and broad consensus.”