Hundreds of anti-war activists demonstrated in Tel Aviv and dozens in other cities on Saturday, after an interim order by the High Court of Justice ordered police to allow protests on a larger scale than permitted under the IDF Home Front’s regulations, despite the military’s objection that it would not be safe amid the ongoing missile threats from Iran, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

Just before 9 p.m., however, police said the main demonstration at Tel Aviv’s Habima Square had exceeded the court’s 600-protester limit, declared the event unlawful, and violently dispersed the crowd, making 17 arrests.

Soon after, alarms sounded for an imminent missile attack, and the detainees, who were being held on a bus, asked to be allowed to join protesters and others heading to the square’s large, protected underground parking lot. Police said they evacuated them, instead, to a safer area. The detainees claimed, however, that they were placed in an unprotected room.

Israel’s Chief Rabbi David Yosef denounced the judges’ decision to let the rallies go ahead, calling the High Court “the enemy of Judaism,” and focusing his ire on the fact that it made a decision “during Shabbat to force the government to allow them [protesters] to demonstrate.”

“All our troubles,” Yosef went on, “including the drafting of yeshiva students, are because of these evil judges… The Almighty will wipe them out, will kill them.”

Many of the demonstrators in Tel Aviv’s Habima Square had waved signs demanding an end to the ongoing war with Iran, while others decried a newly passed law enshrining the death penalty for terrorists.

Much of the protest’s messaging included accusations that the governing coalition has exploited the war for its own political survival. “Government of detachment, the home front is silent, under the cover of war they are looting the country,” one sign read.

Another group of demonstrators dressed themselves in orange prison jumpsuits and cardboard cutout masks of various ministers in Israel’s ruling coalition, and waved fake dollar bills.

A recent poll found that a large majority — some 78% — of Jewish Israelis support the US-Israeli campaign against the Islamic Republic, but that a large majority of Arab Israelis oppose it.

Earlier polls had found that only a quarter of Arab respondents supported the war, compared with over 90% of Jews.

Hours before the protests were set to begin on Saturday, the High Court of Justice issued an interim order allowing up to 600 people at the main demonstration in Tel Aviv, and 150 attendees in Jerusalem, Haifa and Kfar Saba, despite the Home Front Command regulations restricting large gatherings due to the risk of missiles from Iran.

When police adjudged the Habima protest to be too large, the commander at the scene ordered protesters to vacate the plaza, and police began to violently disperse them. Footage from the protest showed police forcefully shoving demonstrators. Mounted officers also arrived at the scene.

אלימות משטרתית כנגד מפגינים 04/04/2026 תל אביב @imahot4 pic.twitter.com/CUI9MheQmj Advertisement if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" || !rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner("#336x280_Middle_2")){ window.tude = window.tude || { cmd: [] }; tude.cmd.push(function() { if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("rgbmedia-app") > -1){ tude.setDeviceType("mobile"); } tude.refreshAdsViaDivMappings([ { divId: '336x280_Middle_2', baseDivId: '336x280_Middle_2', } ]); }); } — אלימות ישראל (@Alimut_Israel) April 4, 2026

אלימות משטרתית כנגד מפגינים

04/04/2026 תל אביב @imahot4 pic.twitter.com/CUI9MheQmj

— אלימות ישראל (@Alimut_Israel) April 4, 2026

Before officers began to break up the crowd, organizer Alon Lee Green was seen giving an impromptu speech to demonstrators decrying the police’s behavior.

“The police are again threatening us,........

© The Times of Israel