Anti-overhaul Activists Launch Week of Protests as Netanyahu Arrives in New York

By Staff, Agencies

Protesters opposed to the Zionist government’s so-called ‘judicial’ overhaul were set to rally outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s New York hotel and hold demonstrations around the city on Tuesday, as he arrived to meet with US President Joe Biden and other world leaders at the UN General Assembly.

The activists and ‘Israeli’ community members in New York were to hold their first demonstration at Netanyahu’s hotel in Manhattan’s Upper East Side before dawn on Tuesday morning, after the premier arrived in New York following a visit to California.

Netanyahu and his wife Sara landed in New York and were received by the Zionist entity’s Ambassador to the US Mike Herzog and Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan.

Another protest was scheduled at the hotel later in the morning, when Netanyahu is expected to set out for the UN, followed by a larger rally in Times Square at noon.

A fourth protest will take place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the evening, as the prime minister attends an event at the cultural center.

Rallies are also scheduled around the city throughout the week until Saturday, including events taking place during Netanyahu’s meeting with Biden and the premier’s speech at the UN. Other activist events are being kept under wraps, with organizers promising “surprises throughout the city.”

The expat demonstrators work with the protest movement in the ‘Israeli’-occupied territories, and they intend to complement the sustained mass rallies in the occupied territories that have taken place since the coalition announced its divisive ‘judicial’ overhaul package at the start of the year.

The main protest events in New York are organized by the expat activist group UnXeptable, which holds rallies and other events in dozens of cities around the US and other countries. A grassroots fundraiser for the week’s protests has raised over $30,000.

On Sunday and Monday, leaders from prominent protest groups, who are in New York to join the anti-Netanyahu demonstrations, held speaking events in the city.

The ‘Israeli’ Anti-Occupation Bloc and the dovish US rabbinic human rights group T’ruah are also planning demonstrations outside the UN and Netanyahu’s hotel.

The visit is Netanyahu’s first to the US since his hardline coalition took power late last year. He is accompanied by so-called Economy Minister Nir Barkat, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman, as well as his wife Sara.

As he set off on the trip, Netanyahu drew harsh criticism from his opponents and fired up the protest movement by accusing demonstrators of “joining forces with the PLO and Iran.” A later statement from the Prime Minister’s Office claimed that Netanyahu meant that the protesters would be rallying alongside pro-PLO and pro-BDS activists, without mentioning Iran.