Thousands protest after Tel Aviv police chief quits due to government policies

Thousands of Israeli anti-government protesters blocked several major highways on Wednesday night, including central Tel Aviv’s busy Ayalon Highway, to express solidarity with Tel Aviv Police Chief Amichai Eshed, who resigned from his post.

Eshed, who has been a critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, particularly the policies of ultra-Orthodox National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, made claims that “political considerations” were behind the government’s decision to demote him within the Israeli police force.

Eshed previously expressed his opposition to using “disproportionate force” in dealing with anti-government protesters. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets in recent months to protest against the Netanyahu-led government’s plans to overhaul the judicial system.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Eshed said he “could not live up to [Ben Gvir’s] expectations, which included breaking the rules and abiding clear interference in professional decision-making.”

He further emphasized the need to recognize the limits of force and the need to protect the Israeli public.  

“As a commander, I taught generations of policemen to recognize the limits of force, to safeguard our contract with the public…Unfortunately, for the first time in my three decades of service, I was met with the bizarre reality in which calm and order were not the desired goal, but rather the contrary was the case,” stated Eshed.

The widespread protests have affected Israeli citizens in their daily lives, causing society to become deeply divided over judicial policy issues and proposed reforms which the opposition claims is a threat to the Jewish state’s democracy as a whole.

Police arrested 37 individuals recently as thousands of anti-government protesters caused chaos at Israel’s travel hub, Ben Gurion International Airport.

A seemingly frustrated driver drove directly through a group of protesters who were blocking the vital Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv. No injuries were reported from the incident.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich blamed the Israel Police for the chaos and disruption.

"The responsibility for the chaos in the Ayalon lies with the law enforcement system and the police who lost control in the face of the anarchists who block the Ayalon again and again and again,” he said.

“Nothing can justify the selective enforcement that is manifest in the large use of [police] force at right-wing, ultra-Orthodox, settler or Ethiopian demonstrations," Smotrich added.