‘Bibi go home’: Anti-corruption demonstrations reach a year

Meretz MKs Mossy Raz and Tamar Zandberg attended the rally Saturday night.

By GIL HOFFMAN
SOME 300 PEOPLE protest near Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit’s home in Petah Tikva last night, calling on him to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption (photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)
SOME 300 PEOPLE protest near Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit’s home in Petah Tikva last night, calling on him to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption
(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)
Some 500 protesters gathered near the Petah Tikva home of attorney-general Avichai Mandelblit Saturday night, completing a year of weekly anti-corruption demonstrations.
The protesters chanted “We won’t give up,” “Bibi go home,” “Bibi against the state,” and “Every Saturday night at the attorney-general,” which rhymes in Hebrew. They held signs reading “Bibi is a wicked man from a criminal family.”
One of the leaders of the demonstrations, political activist Eldad Yaniv, said the demonstrations must be credited with the progress made in the “expensive gift affair” (Case 1000), the “newspaper- collusion case” (Case 2000), and the “submarine scandal” (Case 3000).
He said that a year ago – before the demonstrations had begun – they were just “checks” and not full investigations, and they were on the way to being shelved.
“When Mandelblit said recently that he is giving full gas to the investigations, it is because of the spirit of Petah Tikva,” Yaniv said.
Yaniv vowed to continue the protests until justice is achieved. Another demonstration will be held in Jerusalem Sunday morning outside the Prime Minister’s Office during the weekly cabinet meeting.
Meretz MKs Mossy Raz and Tamar Zandberg attended the rally Saturday night.
Meanwhile, another campaign began over the weekend supporting the Almagor terror victim organization against Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman for not permitting the advancement of the so-called “Taylor Force Bill.”
The bill would require the government to subtract funds the Palestinian Authority gives to terrorists and their families from tax and tariff revenue Israel collects on the behalf of the PA.
Its advancement has been prevented due to work that has not been done by the Defense Ministry.
The legislation is modeled after the so-called Taylor Force Act in the US, which is named for a former US Army officer killed by a Palestinian terrorist in Jaffa in March 2016. Almagor head Meir Indor said he was outraged that while the American Congress was advancing similar legislation, the bill is being held up in Israel.
“It is unacceptable that such an important and urgent bill is being delayed due to credit battles and a desire to torpedo a bill that comes from the opposition,” Indor said.
Israel continues to give the PA NIS 1.2 billion every year. Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern, who initiated the bill, told the Knesset the PA distributed some $300 million to the families of terrorists in 2016.