Protesters block Tel Aviv’s Ayalon highway as Israeli judicial reform protests continue

Israelis blocked the Ayalon Highway on Saturday night as protests throughout Israel against the government’s planned judicial reform entered their 25th week in a row.

Protests initially started at Karkur Junction in northern Israel at around 6:25 p.m., while over 1,000 people were protesting at the Nahalal intersection on Highway 73.

Limor Regev, one of the organizers of the protests, said that “all the achievements to date are the result of the determination of the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators every Saturday for the past 25 weeks. We have five more weeks to go until the end of the Knesset session.

“There is fear that the Knesset leaders will try to corrupt laws in the remaining weeks,” Regev continued. “We are right here, right now, all over the country and plan to be the protective wall of Israeli democracy, we will be the iron wall for a liberal democratic state.”

“We are right here, right now, all over the country and plan to be the protective wall of Israeli democracy, we will be the iron wall for a liberal democratic state.”

Limor Regev

Tel Aviv protests to launch new ‘Kaplan Force’

Additionally, the “Kaplan Force” was launched on Saturday night at the main demonstration on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv, which engages in non-violent protests but will reportedly act in a determined and legal manner, and said that protests before were “child’s play” compared to what would happen in the near future if the legislation by the current government is enforced.

Demonstrators, including the ”Kaplan Force,” protest against the Israeli government’s judicial reform in Dizengoff Square, Tel Aviv in the 25th week of protests June 24, 2023. (credit: YAIR PALTI)

At around 10:30 p.m., the “Kaplan Force” blocked Ayalon Highway to incoming traffic. 

About 130 thousand people participated in the Kaplan protests, Walla reported, citing the demonstrations’ organizers.

Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak also spoke at the Tel Aviv demonstration, according to Walla.

Protesters were also seen at Dizengoff Square.

Demonstrations were also in Haifa, Walla reported, with one at the Horev Junction in Carmel and another at the German Colony. Demonstrations also occurred in Rehovot.

JPost