Israel: Scores rally against Netanyahu's 'corrupt' government in Tel Aviv

M/S Protesters, Tel Aviv
W/S Protesters
M/S Protesters
SOT, Haim Shadmi, Protester: "Actually, we [have been] protesting for the last three years, and tonight it's like [a] special occasion because of the elections in three days from today. It's like the last [wake-up] call for everyone to go and vote. First, go and vote, and don't let this awful and corrupted regime to continue."
M/S Protesters chanting (Hebrew): "Corporate power, organised crime" and "go out of your houses, the country is falling"
SOT, Haim Shadmi, Protester: "We are not going to lose. We are not going to let it go, you know, and let him win no matter what, whether in the elections or in the [near] future to come."
M/S Protesters chanting (Hebrew): "The state is ours, not Netanyahu's"
SOT, Orly, Protester (Hebrew): "On Tuesday, [we] will drive through the streets of Tel Aviv to call on the residents to go and vote. It is important to go and vote, especially in the centre of Israel, we have to bring about change. We want a clean prime minster, today there is one who is corrupt and a fraud. He should go and take care of his own problems. We want to change the regime. We want democracy. We don't want a religious state."
M/S Protesters holding placards reading: "Let democracy win" and chanting (Hebrew): "Corrupted to the jail"
M/S Former Israeli Prime Minister and and co-leader of Democratic Camp Ehud Barak at rally
M/S Banner reading: "Crime minister"
SOT, Ehud Barak, Former Israeli Prime Minister and co-leader of Democratic Camp (Hebrew): "These are the most critical elections since the 1973 war and maybe since Israel was founded. Netanyahu, who is running from his trail, took over the state together with racists and messianic Kahanists."
M/S Protesters chanting; protester waving flag *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Stav Shaffir, Former Labour Knesset member (MK) and co-leader of Democratic Camp: "The elections are really important because this is the election about our democracy. There is a real threat on the Israeli democracy right now. And for us to be able to change that, we have to replace the current government. Israelis are now given one chance to fight for our democracy. And what you see here, these people that you saw here demonstrating, they've been demonstrating for the last two years against government corruption, and sometimes they found themselves in the minority where they saw that around themselves there was just too much fear to protest. But this protest has given a lot of hope. Most Israelis want to see a strong democracy, as Israel has always been, the only democracy in the Middle East, a strong democracy, a strong Israel with all of possibilities that Israel has always given its citizens. And now because of government corruption, there is a treat to this democracy, and most Israelis want to see it change. So it all depends on the result of the elections on Tuesday, and I certainly hope for a very high percentage of voters because if a lot of people go and vote, we are going to replace this government, save [the] Israeli democracy and make a dramatic change here that will bring Israel forward on so many levels."
M/S Protesters holding placards
SCRIPT
Scores of people rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government ahead of the upcoming Israeli legislative elections.
One protester said that the protester was "the last [wake-up] call for everyone to go and vote. First, go and vote, and don't let this awful and corrupted regime to continue."
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who also attended the rally, stressed that "these are the most critical elections since the 1973 war and maybe since Israel was founded."
Stav Shaffir of the Democratic Camp condemned what she described as "government corruption," noting that "there is a real threat on the Israeli democracy right now" and that "for us to be able to change that, we have to replace the current government."
Shaffir expressed hope for a high voter turnout at the upcoming elections, noting that "if a lot of people go and vote, we are going to replace this government, save [the] Israeli democracy and make a dramatic change here that will bring Israel forward."
The Israeli legislative elections are set to take place on September 17. Some 120 members of the 22nd Knesset are to be elected during the September elections.