Around 16 000 protesters have joined demonstrations in Israel to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s misconduct. Proceedings have been taken against him for bribery, fraud and mismanagement of the pandemic. Netanyahu has described his trial as an attack from the left-wing political parties, to undermine his power.
As the coronavirus cases have spiked up in the country, Israel began a second lockdown on September 18 to halt the world’s highest coronavirus infection per capita.
Government proposal to hamper mass gatherings was blocked by lawmakers, which was appraised by the Prime Minister as “the populist decision in parliament to cancel the limitations the government imposed after we saw the rise in the infections”. Nevertheless, such endeavor to hold the protesters back has turned into an impetus to flood the streets once again.
Israel has recorded more than 230 000 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. With 1466 deaths and almost 70 000 active cases, country is facing a serious downturn in economy, unemployment rate surpassing 20 percent.
Israel Democracy Institute published a survey in August, which stated that 61 percent of Israel population did not trust Benjamin Netanyahu to manage the coronavirus crisis.