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Israel’s pro-democracy protests go global, with expats planning rallies in NYC and beyond
(JTA) — Protests by Israelis against their country’s new right-wing government are spilling beyond the country’s borders this week, with rallies planned by Israelis in New York City and elsewhere.
The rallies are being convened by a group called UnXeptable, a group formed by Israelis living abroad in 2020 amid protests against then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was returned to power late last year. Those protests focused on the criminal charges against Netanyahu.
Now, UnXeptable is launching rallies to augment those that have taken root across Israel over the last month against Netanyahu’s new government, which includes ministers who want to greatly expand Jewish settlement in the West Bank, curb minority rights and strengthen Orthodox control in matters of Jewish religious status.
“The foundations of Israeli democracy are being challenged,” said Offir Gutelzon, 48, a tech executive who is UnXeptable’s New York City-based cofounder.
The first of the international protests is scheduled for Saturday at noon in Washington Square Park in New York City’s Greenwich Village. The timing on Shabbat drew criticism from some on social media, where the event was being promoted.
There will be a rally this Saturday at Washington Square Park in NYC to protest the Israeli government.
‘NYC Rally In Support Of A Democratic Israel’ pic.twitter.com/xBAstbabP5
— Jacob Henry (@jhenrynews) January 25, 2023
Gutelzon said the timing was chosen to sync with the Israeli protests, which take place there immediately after Shabbat and last week drew more than 160,000 people in several cities. Most were in Tel Aviv, Israel’s liberal heart, but growing protests are also taking place in Jerusalem and elsewhere.
“We call on Jewish Americans, and anyone who cares about Israeli democracy, to join us,” Gutelzon said. “We care about Israel. We care about Israeli Jewish democracy. We want it to survive and flourish.”
Other rallies in North American are planned for Boston, Chicago, Miami, Seattle, Los Angeles, Toronto and Vancouver.
The protests have taken particular aim at proposed legislation to overhaul the country’s judiciary, a priority of a new government whose members insist that the country’s Supreme Court wields too much power. Those reforms have alarmed even moderates who strongly support Israel, including U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-Manhattan) and Eric Goldstein, CEO of the UJA-Federation of New York. Both wrote essays this week saying the moves could weaken Israel’s democracy by giving lawmakers veto power over the Supreme Court.
Gilad Paz, an Israeli expat who has lived in New York since 2005, said he is planning to attend the New York City rally to show solidarity with his family in Israel, who have attended protests in Tel Aviv that have drawn over 160,000 people.
“Everyone here that wants to be part of these demonstrations, it’s us saying that we support our friends, our families and our neighbors who are still in Israel, who need to know that they are being heard outside of Israel,” said Paz, who served in the IDF in an entertainment unit and now performs in America as part of an Israeli music cover band.
Paz said he was particularly troubled by antipathy toward non-Orthodox Jews within the new government.
“We are back to a position where all American Reform, Conservative and progressive Judaism doesn’t even exist as far as that government is concerned,” he said. “I’ve always towed this line of being Israeli and loving my family and the people there, but … since I left Israel 17 years ago, I’ve only seen it get worse.”
Israelis living abroad are presumed to be more left-leaning than those in Israel, although the community is diverse. The Israeli-American Council, the largest U.S. affinity group for Israeli expats, was funded in large part by the late Republican megadonor and Jewish philanthropist Sheldon Adelson, although its leadership insists its membership is politically diverse. At IAC’s annual summit this week in Austin, Texas, public events surrounding Israel’s new government mostly involved Israeli leaders — including Israeli President Isaac Herzog and the new Diaspora affairs minister, Amichai Chikli — assuring conference-goers that Israeli democracy is strong and that the new government is heeding the concerns of Jews abroad.
Gutelzon, who previously served in the Israeli army and has founded two tech startups, also emphasized that the protests are not anti-Israel protests. They have “nothing to do with people who are saying that they want to annihilate the right of Israel to exist,” he said. “We are standing for Israel, not against Israel.”
Gutelzon emphasized that American Jews and Israelis abroad who observe Shabbat and cannot make this week’s protest will be able to attend ones scheduled for several cities Feb. 4. Those will take place in the evening, after Shabbat has ended.
“There is no reason to exclude anyone,” he said. “This is supposed to be inclusive, with people from the left, the right, Hasidic, religious, secular, whoever — whoever supports Israeli democracy and wants to save it is welcome.”
The New York event page for the protest on Facebook currently has close to 200 people interested in the event.
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Trump Says Gas Prices May Remain High Through November Midterm Election
U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters while Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio look on, as they attend a meeting with oil industry executives, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 9, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the price of oil and gasoline may remain high through November’s midterm elections, a rare acknowledgement of the potential political fallout from his decision to attack Iran six weeks ago.
“It could be, or the same, or maybe a little bit higher, but it should be around the same,” Trump, who is in Miami for the weekend, told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo” when asked whether the cost of oil and gas would be lower by the fall.
The average price for regular gas at US service stations has exceeded $4 per gallon for most of April, according to data from GasBuddy. Trump’s comments on Sunday came after weeks of asserting that the spike in prices is a short-term phenomenon, though his top advisers are cognizant of the war’s economic impacts, officials have said.
Earlier on Sunday, Trump announced on social media that the US Navy would blockade the Strait of Hormuz and intercept any ship that paid a crossing fee to Iran, after marathon talks between the US and Iran in Pakistan over the weekend did not yield a peace deal.
“No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Any US blockade is likely to add more uncertainty to the eventual resolution of the conflict, which is currently subject to a tenuous two-week ceasefire. The new tactic is in response to Iran’s own closure of the strait’s critical shipping lanes, which has caused global oil prices to skyrocket about 50%.
UNPOPULAR WAR HITS TRUMP’S APPROVAL
The war began on February 28, when the US launched a joint bombing campaign with Israel against Iran. The scope quickly expanded as Iran and its allies attacked nearby countries, while Israel targeted Hezbollah with massive strikes in Lebanon.
The war has buffeted global financial markets and caused thousands of civilian deaths, mostly in Iran and Lebanon.
Trump’s political standing at home has suffered, with polls showing the war is unpopular among most Americans, who are frustrated by rising gasoline prices.
The president’s approval rating has hit the lowest levels of his second term in office, raising concern among Republicans that his party is poised to lose control of Congress in the midterm elections. A Democratic majority in either chamber could launch investigations into the Trump administration while blocking much of his legislative agenda.
US Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, questioned the strategy behind Trump’s planned blockade.
“I don’t understand how blockading the strait is going to somehow push the Iranians into opening it,” he told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
In a separate appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Warner said the blockade would not undermine Iranian control of the waterway.
“The Iranians have hundreds of speedboats where they can still mine the strait or put bombs against tankers in closing the strait,” he said. “How is that going to ever bring down gas prices?”
Although Trump has repeatedly said that the war would be over soon, Republican US Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday that achieving US aims in Iran “could take a long time.”
“It’s going to be a long-term project,” said Johnson, who was not asked about Trump’s proposed blockade. “I never thought this would be easy.”
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Israel’s Ben-Gvir Visits Flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound
Israeli politician Itamar Ben-Gvir walks inside the Knesset, in Jerusalem, Oct. 13, 2025. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Pool via REUTERS
Israel’s far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Sunday, saying he was seeking greater access for Jewish worshipers and drawing condemnation from Jordan and the Palestinians.
The compound in Jerusalem’s walled Old City is one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East. Known to Jews as Temple Mount, it is the most sacred site in Judaism and is Islam’s third-holiest site.
Under a delicate, decades-old arrangement with Muslim authorities, it is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation and Jews can visit but may not pray there.
Suggestions that Israel would alter the rules have sparked outrage among Muslims and ignited violence in the past.
“Today, I feel like the owner here,” National Security Minister Ben-Gvir said in a video filmed at the site and distributed by his office. “There is still more to do, more to improve. I keep pushing the Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) to do more and more — we must keep rising higher and higher.”
A statement from the Jordanian foreign ministry said it considered Ben-Gvir’s visit to be a violation of the status quo agreement at the site and “a desecration of its sanctity, a condemnable escalation and an unacceptable provocation.”
The office of Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said such actions could further destabilize the region.
Ben-Gvir’s spokesman said the minister was seeking greater access and prayer permits for Jewish visitors. He also said that Ben-Gvir had prayed at the site.
There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office. Previous such visits and statements by Ben-Gvir have prompted Netanyahu announcements saying that there is no change in Israel’s policy of keeping the status quo.
Muslim, Christian and Jewish sites, including Al-Aqsa had been largely closed to the public during the Iran war. There was no immediate sign of unrest on Sunday after Ben-Gvir’s visit.
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Netanyahu Visits Troops Fighting Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Aug. 10, 2025. Photo: ABIR SULTAN/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli forces operating in southern Lebanon on Sunday as military operations against Hezbollah-linked targets continue.
Netanyahu toured forward positions alongside Defense Minister Yisrael Katz, Eyal Zamir, and Northern Command Commander Rafi Milo, meeting troops and receiving operational briefings from commanders on the ground.
Speaking to soldiers, Netanyahu praised their performance and said operations in the Lebanese security zone were ongoing.
“The war continues, including within the security zone in Lebanon,” he said, adding that Israeli forces were working to prevent infiltration attempts and neutralize threats such as anti-tank fire and missiles.
He described the northern campaign as part of a broader regional struggle involving Iran and its allies, saying Israel’s adversaries were now “fighting for their survival” following sustained Israeli military pressure.