Tel Aviv: At a rally against Israel's highly contentious judicial reform, a driver ploughed into a crowd of protesters, injuring three people. Numerous cities experienced clashes with the police during demonstrations, which led to numerous arrests.
The incident happened on Monday night close to the town of Kfar Saba, which is about 16 kilometres (ten miles) northeast of Tel Aviv. A crowd of protesters had gathered there to march against the comprehensive judicial reform being considered by Israel's Knesset.
A white car is seen speeding through the crowd and over a small bonfire in a video of the attack that is making the rounds online, igniting a plume of flames as the protesters fled in terror. In the ramming, three people were "lightly injured," according to a report from Haaretz.
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According to the local police, a man in his 20s was detained as the suspect. Later, Noga Tarnopolsky, an Israeli journalist, referred to the man as a "West Bank settler."
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As lawmakers passed the first component of the new judicial reform on Monday, thousands of Israelis participated in demonstrations across the country. Since it was first proposed earlier this year, the law, which imposes significant restrictions on the Supreme Court's oversight of governmental actions, has been the focus of intense discussion and controversy, sparking a wave of protests across the nation.
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Local media reported that on Monday, police used water cannons to disperse protesters in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, with at least 34 people being arrested. Ten police officers were hurt during clashes in Tel Aviv, according to the police.
Additionally, a number of roads and highways were blocked by protesters. Before law enforcement got involved, the Ayalon motorway near Tel Aviv was blocked by people, fires and barricades for several hours. Many people reportedly stayed in the area after the protest, and at its height, up to 15,000 people were said to have been on the Ayalon motorway, according to the Times of Israel.
The Jerusalem Post reported that a security guard fired a handgun into the air during an altercation with protesters close to the Hatzerim Kibbutz in southern Israel, and that the guard and six other people were later detained.
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Following the contentious Knesset vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a video statement in which he expressed his willingness to resume discussions with his opponents about the reform. In an effort to assuage the bill's detractors, he insisted that "no side will take over the court."
The opposition leader, Yair Lapid, blasted the prime minister in a video of his own for "lies" and "empty theatre," claiming that his only goal was to "lull the protests to sleep." The lawmaker continued by saying that Netanyahu's "extremist and messianic government cannot tear our democracy apart in the afternoon, then in the evening say that he proposes dialogue."