PM airlifted to airport after protesters block road

TEL AVIV (AP):

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to be airlifted on Thursday to the country’s main international airport for an official overseas trip after throngs of cars and protesters prevented him from driving there.

The demonstrations were part of nationwide protests under way for more than two months against Netanyahu and his government’s contentious plan to overhaul the judiciary.

Demonstrators had made blocking Netanyahu’s route to the airport a centrepiece of their efforts, and the the optics of the Israeli leader having to make alternate travel plans were a win for the protest movement.

The helicopter ride, far from the snarling traffic triggered by the protest, was also sure to deepen Netanyahu’s reputation as being out of touch with Israelis at a time when the country finds itself torn apart over the government plan and the economy is slowing.

Thursday’s protests also disrupted a visit by US Secretary of State Lloyd Austin, whose schedule was rearranged to keep his engagements close to the airport.

Austin briefly waded into the Israeli domestic turmoil during a news conference, where he repeated President Joe Biden’s recent comments that the “genius of American democracy and Israeli democracy is that they are both built on strong institutions, on checks and balances and on an independent judiciary.”

He also noted that Biden had stressed the need for “building consensus for fundamental changes”.

The protesters, launching a “day of resistance to dictatorship”, descended on the country’s main international airport waving Israeli flags and blocking the road leading to the departures area with their cars.

Elsewhere, protesters blocked main intersections and scuffled with police in the seaside metropolis of Tel Aviv and other cities. A small flotilla of paddleboards and kayaks tried to close off a main maritime shipping lane off the northern city of Haifa. Some protesters barricaded the Jerusalem offices of a conservative think tank helping to spearhead the judicial changes.

“Israel is on the verge of becoming an autocratic country. The current government is trying to destroy our democracy, and actually destroy the country,” said Savion Or, a protester in Tel Aviv.

The uproar over Netanyahu’s legal overhaul has plunged Israel into one of its worst domestic crises. Beyond the protests, which have drawn tens of thousands of Israelis to the streets and recently became violent, opposition has surged from across society, with business leaders and legal officials speaking out against what they say will be the ruinous effects of the plan. The rift has affected Israel’s military, which is seeing unprecedented opposition from within its own ranks.

Later Thursday, the military said it suspended a pilot, identified in Israeli media as Col Gilad Peled, until further notice, saying he had organised a pilots’ protest.

“Unionising to synchronise absence from service, though coming from good intentions, is forbidden,” said Maj Gen Tomer Bar, Israel’s air force chief.

While some former top commanders have identified with the protesters, a group of 36 retired generals, including two former chiefs of staff, released a new letter saying the army must remain above politics and calling on reservists to show up for duty.

“We demand that discussion or acts of insubordination be avoided,” said the generals.

Netanyahu, who took office in late December after a protracted political stalemate, and his allies say the measures aim to rein in a court that has overstepped its authority. Critics say the overhaul will upset the country’s delicate system of checks and balances and slide Israel towards authoritarianism.