Israeli protesters block roads to prevent Netanyahu from leaving the country as anger grows over changes to the law.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to be flown to the country’s main international airport on Thursday after cars and protesters blocked roads to prevent him from leaving the country.

Protesters used their vehicles to block roads around Ben Gurion airport, where Netanyahu was supposed to fly to Rome.

The demonstrations were part of nationwide protests that have been taking place for more than two months against the government and its controversial plan to reform the judiciary. Critics of the legislation, which is already going through parliament, say it will politicize the judiciary and lead to authoritarian rule.

These protests are some of the largest Israel has ever seen, with the airport blockade a centerpiece of stepping up efforts to oppose legal changes.

The view of the Israeli leader having to make alternate travel plans was seen as a victory for the protest movement.

With Netanyahu forced onto a helicopter for his state visit to Rome, the protesters also managed to deepen their prime minister’s reputation for being out of touch with the Israelis at a time when the country is torn apart by the plan to government and economy. it’s slowing down

The interruptions on Thursday also affected the visit of the US Secretary of State, Lloyd Austin, whose schedule was rearranged to keep his commitments near the airport.

Austin briefly waded into the internal Israeli turmoil during a press conference, where he echoed President Joe Biden’s recent comments that the “genius of American democracy and Israeli democracy is that they are both built on strong institutions, on checks and balances.” and in an independent judiciary”. .’

He also noted that Biden had stressed the need to “build a consensus for fundamental changes.”

The protesters, launching a ‘day of resistance to the dictatorship’, descended on the country’s main international airport waving Israeli flags, blocking the road leading to the departure area with their cars.

Elsewhere, protesters blocked major intersections and scuffled with police in the coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv and other cities. A small flotilla of paddleboards and kayaks tried to close a major shipping lane off the northern city of Haifa.

Some protesters blocked the Jerusalem offices of a conservative think tank that helps spearhead judicial changes.

‘Israel is about to become an autocratic country. The current government is trying to destroy our democracy and actually destroy the country,” said Savion Or, a protester in Tel Aviv.

The uproar over Netanyahu’s legal reform has plunged Israel into one of its worst internal crises. Beyond the protests, which have brought tens of thousands of Israelis to the streets and recently turned violent, opposition has sprung up across society, with business leaders and court officials speaking out against what they say will be the ruinous effects of the plan. The break has not spared the Israeli army, which is experiencing unprecedented opposition from within its own ranks.

Netanyahu, who took office in late December after a prolonged political stalemate, and his allies say the moves are aimed at reining in a court that has overreached its authority. Critics say the reform will upset the country’s delicate system of checks and balances and push Israel toward authoritarianism.

Critics also say Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, is motivated by personal grievances and could find an escape route from the charges through review. Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing and says the legal changes have nothing to do with his trial.

Demonstrations were taking place across the country as Netanyahu and his allies vowed to go ahead with a series of bills that would strip the Supreme Court of its ability to review legislation and give coalition politicians control over appointments. judicial. An attempt by Israel’s ceremonial president to defuse the crisis through alternative legal reform has so far been unsuccessful.

Police, handing out traffic tickets as protesters held signs reading ‘dictator: don’t come back!’, said they would forcibly evict the protesters if they didn’t move. There were no immediate reports of serious violence.

Netanyahu told the Italian daily La Repubblica in an interview before his trip that the protests were a manifestation of the vitality of Israel’s democracy.

But speaking to reporters in Hebrew before takeoff, he suggested that the protesters were seeking to overthrow Israel’s democratically elected government.

“The goal here is to overthrow a government that was democratically elected,” Netanyahu said. “We will not let anyone disturb Israeli democracy.”

Police, supervised by ultra-nationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, vowed to prevent the riots and said they had made arrests.

Protesters descended on Tel Aviv’s main highway, blocking midday traffic as mounted police and a water cannon truck loomed nearby. Police allowed protesters to remain on the road for more than an hour, but forcibly cleared it in some places before the afternoon rush hour.

The red billboards that adorn the highway say: “Resistance to the dictatorship is mandatory.”

Critics say Ben-Gvir, a key ally in Netanyahu’s coalition government who has called the protesters “anarchists”, is trying to politicize the police.

“We support freedom of expression but not lawlessness,” Ben-Gvir told reporters as he toured the airport.