Israeli radio reported that about 4,000 people had taken part in the protest march on rothschild boulevard. Netanyahu accused of illegally accepting gifts from wealthy businessmen. He is also alleged to have attempted to illegally influence media coverage. Netanyahu rejects the accusations as a "witch hunt.
One of the signs seen on saturday night described netanyahu as "bogedyahu," video footage showed. David amsalem, a leading member of the ruling likud party, called for "stopping the incitement before it’s too late". He accused the demonstrators of wanting to overthrow the netanyahu government instead of voting it out of office.
Already a week ago, there was heavy criticism after a demonstrator in tel aviv carried a replica of a guillotine with him. The likud party interpreted this as a call to assassinate netanyahu. Comparisons were made with aggressive demonstrations by right-wing israelis in the months leading up to the assassination of then-government leader izchak rabin on june 4. November 1995.
Eldad janiv, one of the organizers of the protests, strongly rejected the accusations and spoke of an "idiotic sign". "No coffin is carried through the area here and no rabin or bibi (netanyahu) is shown in SS uniform," he told the news site "ynet" about the comparisons with 1995. "There are israeli patriots here who want their country back."