Somewhere between 8,000 to 20,000 protesters (depending on who is counting) gathered Tuesday night at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art to express their outrage at Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and the state prosecutors involved in filing indictments against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling the process an “attempted coup”—using the words of the prime minister himself in his response to the allegations, according to the Hebrew-language 0404 military news website.
In fact, the event was held under the title, “Protesting the Coup.”
Those who gathered at the rally held Israeli flags, and signs that declared their allegiance to the Likud party, saying “We won’t keep silent while Netanyahu’s blood is being spilled,” and their loyalty to Netanyahu, assuring him, “You’ll never walk alone.”
Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev – a major supporter of the prime minister – spoke at the rally, saying the point of the demonstration was to convey the message that “the rule of law isn’t above the law … The essence of democracy is checks and balances. It seems some are pushing too hard and we must stop them.”
Likud Knesset member Miki Zohar likewise spoke, saying Israel’s justice system has fallen victim “to the media and Israel’s left … Leftist officials concocted a conspiracy, and the media that are already aligned with them became a part of it.
“We cannot change the justice system, but we can fix it,” he said.