An N12 journalist was attacked by protesters at a pro-judicial reform protest in Tel Aviv on Sunday evening, as thousands of demonstrators gathered in the intersection in front of Azrieli Center to demand the continuation of the judicial reform.
Videos from the scene showed protesters surrounding the journalist and the camera crew and pushing them, with a police officer attempting to intervene. The assailants chanted “shame, shame” and “[Kach party head Meir] Kahane was right.”
Spitting and pushing: News 12 reporter Gilad Shalmor was attacked at a demonstration by reform supporters in Tel Aviv – and rescued by the policehttps://t.co/epxYFPphpL pic.twitter.com/Q7pHkaPNPJ
— The News – N12 (@N12News) July 23, 2023
Police Chief Kobi Shabtai arrived at the protest later in the afternoon.
Protesters attack AG, reservists ending volunteer service
Protesters at the demonstration held signs calling for Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara to be fired and saying that “The High Court of Justice is dripping with Jewish blood.”
Additional signs attacked volunteer reservists who have chosen to suspend or end their volunteer service due to the advancement of the judicial reform and signs questioning why there is no Yemenite justice in the High Court, a reference to concerns that there are mostly Ashkenazi justices in the High Court. (The current High Court includes one justice whose parents immigrated from Iraq, one Muslim justice, and one justice whose parents immigrated from Morocco)
Protesters also placed stickers reading “Reform Square” and other slogans on a sign recently put up by the Tel Aviv Municipality naming the intersection on Kaplan Street “Democracy Square“
The protest was endorsed by some religious Zionist rabbis and coalition members in recent weeks, with some right-wing movements organizing buses to transport protesters from the West Bank and a few locations in northern and southern Israel to the demonstration.