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The anti-government protest movement in Israel, the largest in the country’s history, has dominated the streets for seven months since plans emerged to weaken the power of the courts. On Saturday night, they again turned out hundreds of thousands. But they are not extremists neglected by the establishment – they are the establishment. They use traditional symbols such as the flag to fight the populist policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“This is the backbone of Israeli society — people who have founded companies and headed large organizations,” says Shekma Pressler, a physicist and protest leader. “Some carried out special military operations.”
“People who have been arrested on the streets include the CEOs of unicorn companies,” she adds, referring to the term for a startup worth more than $1 billion.
Five other activists with inside knowledge provided behind-the-scenes details on condition of anonymity.
They estimate that 270 groups are active, with about 800,000 individuals. They’ve deployed dozens of imaging drones, mobilized late-night operations to drape monuments in banners laden with slogans, and dispatched thousands of women in red gowns and white berets to Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
They succeeded in preventing Netanyahu’s right-wing religious government from expediting entire judicial reform through the Knesset, as the parliament is known. With the government poised to pass at least one major change, the movement is calculating its next steps.
Netanyahu’s plans have worried global investors, as stocks, bonds and the Israeli currency have performed poorly this year compared to similar assets in other countries. The United States also criticized the comprehensive reform.
“We will have to direct our efforts against the measures that will be made possible by the new law,” says Pressler.
Her grassroots group, known as “Kaplan’s Force,” after a street in central Tel Aviv that hosts weekly Saturday night demonstrations, is the largest. She became the face of the movement.
It is not new to the field of demonstration. It led anti-corruption protests against Netanyahu starting in 2019. This means that when the judicial reform took place seven months ago, the group had a solid infrastructure to get people out on the streets.
There are 140 sectoral or professional groups of military reservists, high-tech executives, women’s rights activists, doctors, and lawyers. At Saturday night’s protests, they occupied the same venue, as the farmers’ market. About 130 additional groups are organizing local demonstrations across the country.
The groups are independent, with their own WhatsApp groups and agendas, but they quickly realize they need funding and collaboration. This is how the protest headquarters arose.
“Free in our country”
The oversight group is called “Hofshi b’artzenu,” a Hebrew adaptation of the word Israel National anthem It means “free in our country”. Its 16 employees work full and part time and rotate between donated workplaces in various high-tech offices. The CEO is Eran Schwartz, a former Air Force pilot and deputy director general at the Ministry of Social Equality. Another employee is Daria Shaked-Hing, a former venture capitalist dedicated to promoting women in Silicon Valley.
The team is supervised by a steering committee. Some are familiar in Israel: Dan Halutz and Moshe Ya’alon, both former military chiefs of staff; Dina Zilber, former Deputy Attorney General; Gilad Sher, a prominent attorney; and Yossi Kocek, business consultant. Scheer and Kocek both worked with former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who attended some of the protests.
Others include top business leaders such as Orne Petrushka, one of the Israeli founding fathers of high technology. Zohar Lefkowitz, technology entrepreneur and venture investor; Ilan Shiloh, former CEO and chairman of Israel’s largest advertising company; and Itai Ben Horin, owner and CEO of a major public relations firm.
Hedge funders lead protests in battle against Israel’s Supreme Court
They hold weekly meetings to discuss trends and provide back-office services to organizations that mainly include funding allocations, strategic planning and legal aid — so far, they say, 800 protesters have been arrested.
The strong nature of the protesters can cause friction. There are frequent disagreements about tone or direction. One of the main roles of the steering committee is to make peace and keep the movement united.
Funding for the operation, estimated at tens of millions of dollars, is provided by private donors and crowd sources. Committee members say 90% of donors are Israeli, and they do not accept money from governments or political organizations. The money is channeled through a nonprofit organization called Blue and White Futures, which Scheer and Petrushka founded in 2009 to advance Israeli democracy and a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
reserve elite
Street protests rely heavily on elite military reserves. Last spring, what stopped reform in its tracks was a surge in combat reserve pilots who threatened to stop volunteering. defense minister Yoav Gallant He said that security is in danger and called for stopping the legislation.
Now that a law banning judges from declaring government action “unreasonable” has been passed in the Knesset, reservists – who play a key role in military operations – are once again pledging to participate. On Friday, 1,142 Air Force reservists, including 422 airmen, signed a letter saying they would refrain from volunteering if the bill became law.
Ten thousand reservists issued a similar threat on Saturday. Gallant did not support them but there were last minute talks about a possible settlement. It is a game of extreme brinksmanship.
If the current bill passes, attention will shift to whether the government introduces the second part of the judicial reform, to ensure that the selection of judges is more driven by political parties.
If that were the case, says physicist Pressler, the protests would adapt — but not stop.
“No one knows how this will unfold in Israel,” she said. “It is unfathomable, but the whole truth now is unfathomable.”
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