“Strictly Kosher” (Photo: Haim Goldberg, Shabbat Square)
The head of the opposition and chairman of Yesh Atid, MK Yair Lapid, sent a letter to Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai, ahead of the demonstration against the legal revolution of Yariv Levin, which is expected to take place this coming Saturday night in Tel Aviv.
Although he was never bothered by the use of anti-ultra riots against the ultra-Orthodox or the right-wing protesters, Lapid wrote to Shabtai that “the role of the police is to protect the protesters and not to ‘prepare for them’, not to use anti-ultra riots and to make sure that excessive force is not used against them while they are fulfilling their civic duty.”
Lapid added in an appeal to Commissioner Shabtai: “I saw the police announcement regarding the ‘fear of disorder’ at the demonstration on Saturday night, as well as the news about the situation assessment that Minister Ben Gabir held with you prior to the demonstration. It would have been appropriate for you to inform the minister that there is no need for a ‘situation assessment’ in preparation for a demonstration by good, Zionist, law-abiding Israelis who are just going out to protest within the framework of freedom of expression.”
He added that “at the demonstration there will be tens of thousands of activists, members of civil society, concerned citizens, including my children.” Lapid emphasized that the protesters are not law breakers, but law keepers: “These protesters are the greatest lovers of the State of Israel and should be treated as such. I expect you to instruct the police to treat the protesters with respect and do everything to allow them to express a legitimate protest. Your job is to make sure that the police are not political And it is not available to only one party in the political system, even if that party is now in power.”