Israel

Israel

Israelis Protest Against “Medical Dictatorship”

Thousands take to the streets of Tel Aviv to oppose new vaccine drive and renewal of social restrictions

Israelis say they won't take the COVID vaccine by coercion
The sign reads: "We say no to dictatorship and vaccination by coercion" Photo: Miriam Alster/FLASH90

What appeared to be thousands of Israelis marched through the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest against renewed government restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Israel’s daily COVID-19 infection rate is again in the thousands and the number of hospitalized patients is rising fast enough to have officials worried. In response, masks are again required indoors, travel to all but a handful of countries is banned and the “Green Passport” policy is back in effect.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has launched what some see as an overly-aggressive public relations campaign to changed the minds of the one million Israelis who have chosen not to be vaccinated. Bennett was accused last month of shaming these “vaccine-refusers,” and has since hinted that if Israel faces a nationwide lockdown over the upcoming Jewish holidays, it will be because of them.

At Saturday’s demonstration in Tel Aviv, some Israelis continued to insist either that the whole thing is a hoax, or that the government is exploiting what is a relatively mild, albeit highly contagious virus to exert greater control over the public.

They carried signs reading “There’s no pandemic, it’s a hoax” and “Dictatorship via the excuse of Corona”.

The demonstration received very little media coverage. And where it did, reports suggested there were only several hundred participants. But those involved claimed some 3,000 Israelis had come out, and a video posted to Facebook seemed to back up that larger estimate.

About the author

Patrick Callahan

This is an example of author bio/description. Beard fashion axe trust fund, post-ironic listicle scenester. Uniquely mesh maintainable users rather than plug-and-play testing procedures.

Leave a Reply

Login