Tens of thousands of Israelis came to Rabin Square in Tel Aviv tonight to demand a new government headed by anyone except current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel Police estimated the crowd at 40,000 while the centrist and left-of-center organizers claimed double that amount showed up, +972 reported – the rough equivalent of drawing a crowd of 2 million to 4 million in the US.
Above: Benjamin Netanyahu
Updated at 10:00 pm CST
Tens Of Thousands Demonstrate Against Netanyahu In Tel Aviv
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Tens of thousands of Israelis came to Rabin Square in Tel Aviv tonight to demand a new government headed by anyone except current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel Police estimated the crowd at 40,000 while the centrist and left-of-center organizers claimed double that amount showed up, +972 reported – the rough equivalent of drawing a crowd of 2 million to 4 million in the US.
The slogan for the rally, billed as anti-Benjamin Netanyahu event, was “Israel wants change.”
Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan addressed the crowd.
“To those who say we don’t have any alternative, as somebody who worked directly with three prime ministers: there is a better alternative. Just as there are unavoidable wars there are also unavoidable elections,” the visibly ill former Mossad chief reportedly said, adding that the upcoming election is an emergency call-up like that which takes place by the IDF in a time of war, a call-up that Israelis cannot ignore.
"No one denies that Iran's nuclear program is a threat, but going to war with the U.S. is not the way to stop it. Israel is a country surrounded by enemies, but the enemies are not scaring us. I am afraid of our leadership. I am afraid of a loss of determination, of a loss of personal example. I am afraid of hesitancy and stalemate, and I am afraid above all of the crisis of leadership, a leadership crisis that is the most severe ever here,” Dagan insisted, according a report in Ha'aretz.
“Benjamin Netanyahu has served as prime minister for six years straight,” Dagan noted, “six years in which he has not led a single genuine process of change to the face of the region or the creation of a better future. On his watch, Israel conducted the longest [military] campaign since the War of Independence.” Dagan noted, and then added a question for the prime minister. “Why should you be responsible for our fate if you are so afraid to take responsibility?”
“I am not a politician and not a public figure,” Dagan continued, “and I came here this evening without personal aspirations, not looking for a position and without a grudge or bitterness. We deserve leadership that will set new priorities. It has long not been a question of left-wing and right-wing. It is a question of a path, a vision, of a different horizon,” the former Mossad chief said.
Retired General Amiram Levine also spoke.
A peace deal “is the only way to preserve the settlement project, the settlement blocs and to hold on to the Golan Heights,” Levine reportedly said.
Both Levine and Dagan warned that Israel is heading toward “apartheid.”
The election is scheduled for March 17.