Thousands of anti-government protesters gathered at Tel Aviv’s Habima Square on Saturday night as the movement returned to center stage following the end of the weekly rallies for the Gaza hostages last week after almost two years.

The war in Gaza and the victims of the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught were nevertheless still at the top of the agenda, and speakers included bereaved families.

Represented among the protesters were members of disparate activist groups, whose various causes and demands were on display throughout the square.

Many of the core issues featured by protesters related to and were centered around the October 7 Hamas onslaught and the subsequent two-year war in Gaza, with speakers including the mother of a soldier killed in Hamas captivity.

Other, older issues, such as the government’s many attempts to weaken the judiciary, were mentioned as well.

A large group of the protesters marched to Habima Square from the Begin-Kaplan interchange to kick off the evening’s proceedings.

The Haaretz newspaper reported that they were approached by several right-wing activists as they marched, who were pushed back by the police after a brief confrontation broke out.

The right-wing activists later attempted to confront protesters in Habima Square, the newspaper reported, and were again removed by police after scuffling with them.

Brothers in Arms, a reservist protest group established in 2023 in response to the government’s attempts to overhaul the judiciary, set up a large stand on the square’s south end, where its members railed against the government’s bid to codify exemptions from military service for ultra-Orthodox men.

Nearby, activists from the left-wing group Looking the Occupation in the Eye held signs declaring: “We were silent about the occupation, now we have a dictatorship.” About 100 other left-wing protesters hoisted images of Palestinian children killed in Gaza.

On the other side of the Brothers in Arms stall, the Movement for Quality Governance set up a tent calling for a state commission of inquiry into Israel’s failures in the lead-up to the October 7 onslaught.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered various reasons as to why he will not establish such a commission, first insisting it could not be done in wartime and later claiming that........

© The Times of Israel