In Israel, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv Wednesday evening after the city’s police commander announced he was resigning under pressure from senior Israeli government officials. Commander Ami Eshed said he would rather step aside than follow the demands of cabinet members, who demanded a violent crackdown on protesters opposed to plans by the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu to gut Israel’s judiciary. This is a protester speaking Wednesday.
Alon Sternberg: “I’m here today because I’m an Israeli who cares about democracy. I know that if the government decided to fire the head police officer of Tel Aviv only because he decided it’s legal to protest, I think this is one step further for Israel to be a nondemocratic state.”
There were no mass protests in Israel over this week’s two-day raid in Jenin, which killed 12 Palestinians, including four children, displaced thousands of residents and razed homes to the ground.