DThe Israeli police have launched an internal investigation after attacks on demonstrators protesting against Israel's government in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening. Videos show a mounted police officer using his reins as a whip and hitting a man in the head. Some of the several thousand demonstrators had tried to block a main road.
The confrontation with police was the most violent since the Gaza war began in October. Police used water cannons against demonstrators, including released Hamas hostages and relatives of hostages still held. Several people were injured and 21 people were arrested. Opposition leader Jair Lapid criticized the police's actions. “The right to protest is a fundamental right that cannot be taken away from demonstrators with batons and water cannons,” he said. Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has repeatedly demanded that the police take tougher action against demonstrators critical of the government.
There were also protests in Jerusalem and other places. The demonstrators demanded an early election and the return of the remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip. They accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of not doing enough for a new agreement with Hamas. There were initially no concrete results in the negotiations over a hostage deal in Paris. According to media reports, Israel plans to send a delegation to Qatar shortly. A ceasefire should be discussed there.
The United States, meanwhile, has publicly reverted to its previous stance that settlement construction in the West Bank is illegal under international law. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday he was “disappointed” by an Israeli announcement that it would build more than 3,000 new housing units in the occupied territory. This is “incompatible with international law,” he said. In November 2019, President Donald Trump's Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said the U.S. does not view settlements as illegal, reversing a position that has been held since 1967.