The true face behind the anti-government protests - Akiva Bigman and Gilad Zwick

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by Akiva Bigman

A core group of well-known left-wing activists and organizations with a clear agenda are playing prominent roles in the recent protests.

People protest against PM Benjamin Netanyahu outside his residence in Jerusalem, Tuesday | Photo: EPA/Abir Sultan

The demonstrations of the past few days have largely been described by most media outlets as spontaneous and unorganized. Although many citizens have joined these protests of their own volition – a core group of well-known activists and organizations with a clear agenda have also taken part.

Orly Bar Lev, who is described by the media as one of the protest leaders, is a prominent left-wing activist. She was highly visible in the protests against the natural gas deal in 2015, and she occasionally makes appearances in protests over illegal labor migrants and the nation-state law. In recent years she has focused on demonstrating against government corruption and pressuring the attorney general to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

One of the people arrested during Tuesday night's protest in Jerusalem is Yigal Rambam, one of the leaders of the social protests of 2011. Rambam has a long record as a left-wing activist, and in July 2016 he was arrested on suspicion of using tear gas to attack people protesting on behalf of IDF soldier Elor Azaria in Tel Aviv. The attorney for some of the arrested protesters in Jerusalem, Leah Tsemel, is recognized for her radical views and is known as the "terrorists' attorney." She represented Abdel Aziz Salha, who took part in the lynching of IDF soldiers in Ramallah in October 2000 and was photographed waving his blood-soaked hands in the window of the police station. In an interview with the Maariv newspaper in 1993, Tsemel stated she supported attacking settlers.

Retired Israeli Air Force Brig. Gen. Amir Haskel, who is seen as a symbol of the protests after he was recently arrested, has demonstrated for nearly four years in the radical anti-Netanyahu Black Flag movement.

"Zazim" is one of the organizations that demonstrated outside the Prime Minister's residence in the capital. On its Facebook page, Zazim says it is behind some of the placards equating the Netanyahu government to the coronavirus. According to the organization's reports, in 2018 it received a donation of NIS 662,267 ($192,875) from the New Israel Fund.

Left-wing groups have also been highly visible in the protests against the government's handling of the corona crisis. One of the more prominent of these groups is "Omdim Yahad" (Standing Together), which says on its Facebook page that it's fighting "for a comprehensive alternative to the Right." 

Over the past two years, Omdim Yahad has received NIS 228,251 ($66,474) from two funds managed by the German government. According to Israeli watchdog group NGO Monitor, in 2017-18 the New Israel Fund donated NIS 681,000 ($198,330) to Omdim Yahad.

Omdim Yahad said in response: "We are proud to fight alongside a number of partners, from across the entire social spectrum, on behalf of solutions to provide economic security instead of crumbs thrown by the government."

Zazim said in response that it was proud of its activists "who invest their own time and money" in the protests. "Trying to paint the protests as being led by one organization or another is nothing but an idiotic attempt to silence the voice of the people."

Yigal Ramabam declined Israel Hayom's request to comment.

Akiva Bigman

Source: https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/07/16/the-true-face-of-the-anti-government-protests/

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