Netanyahu: Israel protesters spreading coronavirus, crushing democracy

Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed protesters who gathered outside his official residence could be ‘incubating’ coronavirus.

Anti-Netanyahu protesters in Jerusalem at the weekend. Picture: Getty Images

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused large crowds of protesters who gathered outside his official residence of trying to “trample on democracy” and claimed that they could be “incubating” coronavirus.

An estimated 10,000 people attended a march in central Jerusalem on Saturday which culminated at the Prime Minister’s residence, and resulted in some demonstrators having to be dragged away by riot police or dispersed with water cannon.

The rallies, galvanised by corruption charges against Mr Netanyahu, have been the largest in Israel for at least nine years, but the Prime Minister has previously dismissed the demonstrators as “leftists” and “anarchists”. He faces three corruption charges and has denied wrongdoing.

Thousands of Israelis protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Saturday. Picture: Getty Images

Late on Sunday Mr Netanyahu accused the media of inflaming the protests. “Never have so few received such huge coverage,” he said. “I see an attempt to trample on democracy. There is a distortion of all the rules.”

In an apparent swipe at police and public health officials, he added: “Nobody restricts the demonstrations. On the contrary they are accommodating toward them … [but] it’s a coronavirus incubator, there are rules that are not enforced, no one restricts it, and no one has even tried to restrict it.”

No outbreaks have so far been linked to the twice-weekly protests, which have grown in momentum since Mr Netanyahu became the first serving prime minister to be indicted on corruption charges and following a series of indecisive elections.

Many of the demonstrators, including young unemployed Israelis, have since accused Mr Netanyahu of mishandling the coronavirus crisis by reopening the economy too quickly after an early lockdown. The country is coping with record levels of cases, while unemployment has increased to more than 20 per cent.

Mr Netanyahu’s comments, at a meeting of Israel’s cabinet, led to a clash with his political rival Benny Gantz, the Defence Minister and prime minister in waiting in a power-sharing coalition, who defended the right to demonstrate as the “lifeblood of democracy” and condemned violence against protesters.

“As a government, we have a responsibility to allow the demonstrations to take place and to protect the demonstrators, who were unfortunately attacked yesterday,” Mr Gantz said.

While the demonstrations have largely been peaceful, some protesters have clashed with police, accusing them of using excessive force. Small gangs of Mr Netanyahu’s supporters affiliated with a far-right group have assaulted demonstrators.

Israeli police said that five people were taken into custody for allegedly accosting those protesting against Mr Netanyahu, and 12 people were detained at the end of a protest after they refused to vacate the area.

On Saturday crowds waved Israeli flags and blew horns as they gathered outside his official residence in Balfour Street, central Jerusalem, while smaller anti-government gatherings were held in Tel Aviv, near Mr Netanyahu’s beach house in central Israel, and at dozens of busy intersections nationwide.

On Sunday, Mr Netanyahu continued to protest media coverage of the events.

“I condemn the one-sidedness of most media outlets. They do not report the demonstrations — they participate in them. They add fuel,” he said.

“There has never been such a distorted mobilisation (of protesters) — I wanted to say Soviet but it has already reached North Korean terms — of the media in favour of the protests.”

An Israeli court ordered his son on Sunday “to refrain from harassing” several protest leaders after he tweeted their addresses. Yair Netanyahu, 29, was also ordered to delete the tweet.

THE TIMES