The pressure on the streets of Israel has increased as the judicial reform bills move forward in the Israeli Parliament and some of the most controversial aspects are expected to be approved on final reading this week. During the night of Saturday, the marches against the government of Benjamin Netanyahu due to the reform reached their peak: around half a million participants, half of them in Tel-Aviv.
The data belong to the convening civil society organizations, since for weeks the police have not provided estimates on the number of participants in these protests that would allow us to compare the data provided by the organizers, and which are generally validated by the Israeli media. Thus, yesterday there was talk of "the biggest protest in the history of Israel".
In this environment, Benjamin Netanyahu adds a new setback, the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, precisely when the prime minister took for granted the normalization of relations between Israel and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The news of the agreement made in Beijing between Arabs and Persians took Netanyahu to Rome, more to celebrate a wedding anniversary with his wife than a diplomatic visit, according to the press. On his return, on Friday, the great demonstration against him took place. Among those protesting, it must be remembered, are many elite Air Force pilots.
Despite all this, Israeli missiles hit Masyaf, in the Syrian province of Hama, and injured three Syrian soldiers, according to official sources in Damascus, who said they had brought down some of the projectiles. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights noted that the Israeli target was a weapons depot of a pro-Iranian militia, presumably the Lebanese Hezbollah. Meanwhile, in Nablus (West Bank), a shootout between Israeli soldiers and militiamen from the group called The Lion's Den ended with three Palestinians dead when they opened fire on a military checkpoint. The new deaths bring to 81 the number of Palestinians who have lost their lives in the area in violent incidents with Israel since the beginning of the year, including fifteen minors.
