Benjamin Netanyahu (archive), via dts news agency
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Tel Aviv (dts news agency) – Thousands of demonstrators called for the resignation of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a rally in Tel Aviv this evening. According to the organizers, 120,000 people took part in the demonstration. Many again accused the government of not doing enough to free the hostages remaining in Hamas’s hands. A highway was briefly blocked on the sidelines of the event.
Numerous people also came together in the coastal city of Haifa and called for new elections. Some announced that they would move on to Netanyahu’s home to demonstrate for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu has announced that he wants to significantly increase the country’s defense budget in order to expand Israel’s security policy independence. The politician told journalists that evening that his government would present corresponding plans in eight weeks. Netanyahu described South Africa’s accusation of genocide before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as a “moral low point” and spoke of an international defamation campaign. The Prime Minister thanked the Federal Republic of Germany for its continued support of Israel. The federal government clearly rejected the allegations made against Israel on Friday.
Israel defended itself against accusations of genocide before the ICJ on Friday and rejected South Africa’s accusations as “twisted” and “distorted”. Tal Becker, one of Israel’s lawyers before the ICJ, blamed Hamas’s practice of anchoring its military facilities and fighters amid civilian infrastructure as the root cause of the death and suffering of Gaza’s civilian population.
“The key element of genocide, the intention to destroy a people in whole or in part, is completely missing,” said Israel’s defender. What Israel strives for is not the destruction of a people, but the protection of its people.
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