PHOTO/VIDEO Anti-war protest in Tel Aviv, dispersed by the police. “Netanyahu is the biggest threat”
More than a thousand people gathered in Habima Square in central Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest Israel's war against Iran, criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Police eventually intervened to disperse the crowd and detained at least 17 people, according to AFP and CNN.
“Don't bomb! Talk!” and “Stop Bibi's nonsense!”, as Prime Minister Netanyahu is nicknamed, were two of the chants heard by an AFP journalist at the demonstration in Tel Aviv.
“Netanyahu is the greatest threat to the existence of Israel,” read the sign displayed by a woman.
Shortly after the beginning of the demonstration, the police dispersed the demonstrators, but some of them returned to the scene. Some sat on the floor, Agerpres wrote.
🚨🇮🇱BREAKING: Chaos erupts in Tel Aviv, Israel as police crack down on peaceful anti-war protesters.
Thousands of Israelis took to the streets demanding an end to a war with Iran, Lebanon and Palestine!
“We want a normal life – no more bloodshed, no more war!” pic.twitter.com/wRJyU2WBlH
— Mario ZNA (@MarioBojic) April 4, 2026
“The police are trying to silence us,” but “it is our duty to be present,” Alon-Lee Green, co-director of Standing Together, an Israeli-Palestinian group that organized the demonstration, told AFP.
The protest also criticized the military actions against Hamaz in Gaza, and those in Lebanon, where Israel launched an offensive against the pro-Iranian Shiite militia Hezbollah, which intervened in the war with the declared objective of avenging the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“We are here to demand an end to the war in Iran, the war in Lebanon, the ongoing war in Gaza and an end to the pogroms in the West Bank,” added Alon-Lee Green.
At least 17 people detained
Yuval Tzur, who has attended weekly protests since the start of the war, told CNN that the protest lasted “about half an hour” before being stopped by law enforcement.
“We managed to protest for maybe half an hour (…). Everyone we came with was pushed, they were knocked to the ground,” said Tzur.
Israeli police dispersed anti-war protest in Tel Aviv, officially for violating the limits on public gatherings due to the war. But it did intervene when thousands crowded today on the beach or in malls pic.twitter.com/jH1nZiTSzO
— Guy Elster גיא אלסטר (@guyelster) April 4, 2026
Israel's Supreme Court had previously issued an order allowing a protest of up to 600 people. On Saturday evening, police told demonstrators who had gathered in the square that there were more than the order called for.
“You are far exceeding the Supreme Court decision that set a limit of 600 people for the protest – you are currently approaching 1,000,” a police officer said through a megaphone.
BREAKING: Protests erupt in Tel Aviv calling for an end to the war. pic.twitter.com/UFJyxWvj2w
— World Times (@WorldTimesWT) April 4, 2026
