“The freedom to demonstrate is not the freedom to bring the state to a halt,” Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday evening. His remarks came as demonstrations in the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem continued as part of the so-called “Day of Disruption” by opponents of the government’s controversial package of judicial reform legislation.
“A sovereign country cannot tolerate anarchy,” Netanyahu said. “I know that there are among you who passionately support reform, and I know that there are also citizens who oppose the reform with the same fervor. There are red lines that must not be crossed, and it doesn’t matter how deep and turbulent and soul-shaking it is. The sharp and clear red line is a prohibition against violence and anarchy.”
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Netanyahu said that he opposes right-wing protests like the violent rampage in the West Bank town of Huwara with the same fervor as he opposes the protests against the judicial reform legislation.
Netanyahu’s national address came as four Israeli lawmakers from both the government and the opposition published an open letter calling for compromise talks to be held at President Isaac Herzog’s residence in Jerusalem. The letter was signed by Danny Danon and Yuli Edelstein from the government coalition’s Likud party, Gadi Eizenkot and Chili Tropper from the opposition National Unity coalition.
Meanwhile, the protests on Wednesday evening in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem became even more chaotic and violent. Police were called to help Sara Netanyahu escape from a Tel Aviv hair salon where she was getting a haircut after protesters surrounded it and chanted menacingly against her.