Photo by Gideon Markowicz/TPS-IL on 5 November, 2024

The Voices of Protest: ‘We’re Going to End Up in a Dictatorship’

Public By Pesach Benson • 6 November, 2024

Jerusalem, 6 November, 2024 (TPS) -- Thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Tuesday night to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

“Trust between me and the Minister of Defense has cracked,” Netanyahu said, explaining the firing.

In Tel Aviv, one protester told The Press Service of Israel, “What Netanyahu did — firing the Defense Minister — is very bad for Israel’s security. It only shows that he completely lost any consideration of what is good for Israel. He’s only thinking about himself, what works for his own political good. And this is something which is extremely dangerous. And if we don’t go out in the streets now, we’re going to end up in a dictatorship.”

Another demonstrator told TPS-IL, “The lawlessness of Netanyahu taking on this authority in the middle of the war and with Iran that could bomb at any moment, and he does it to please the haredim and ensure that he doesn’t have a trial.” He was referring to divisions over mandatory military service for Israel’s Haredi, or Orthodox Jewish commmunity.

“I came out to save the country, because dictatorship is on the way,” said another protester “The firing of the Minister of Defense is a moral shame. I have three children in the army.”