JERUSALEM: Hundreds of people defied restrictions on large gatherings to protest outside parliament on Thursday, while scores of others were blocked by police from reaching the area as they accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of exploiting the coronavirus crisis to solidify his power and undermine Israel’s democratic foundations.

In recent days, Netanyahu and his surrogates have shut down Israel’s court system just ahead of his trial on corruption charges, have begun using phone-surveillance technology on the public and adjourned parliament until next week.

Netanyahu has defended most of these moves as unpleasant but necessary steps to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. But opponents say he is more interested in staying in power as Netanyahu governs in a caretaker role after a third consecutive inconclusive election in under a year.

Outside the Knesset, or parliament, hundreds protested the government’s moves, hoisting banners that said “No to dictatorship”, “Democracy in danger”, and calling Netanyahu the crime minister.

Police said they arrested three people for violating a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people. They also blocked a convoy of dozens of cars from entering Jerusalem and prevented dozens of other cars inside Jerusalem from approaching the Knesset building. Many of the cars honked and hung black flags out their windows.

At the nearby Supreme Court, justices heard separate challenges to the new mobile-phone tracking edict and the shutdown of the Knesset. Civil rights groups and the opposition Blue and White party filed the cases.

Netanyahu announced this week that Israel’s Shin Bet security agency would begin deploying its phone surveillance technology to help curb the spread of the coronavirus in Israel by tracking the moves of those infected. The order went into effect late Wednesday when the government said it had notified about 400 people that they had come into contact with infected people and should immediately quarantine themselves.

Israel uses phone surveillance in the occupied Palestinian territories, saying it’s an important tool to prevent attacks on Israelis, but critics say it’s also aimed at maintaining tight control. The surveillance in Israel has sparked widespread criticism from lawmakers and civil rights groups.

Israeli health officials have diagnosed over 500 coronavirus infections, with a sharp spike of positive tests in the past two days. There have been no deaths.

With the numbers quickly rising, authorities have issued tough guidelines that have brought Israel to a standstill. Many of the measures have been seen elsewhere. People have been instructed to stay home, tens of thousands are in preventive home quarantine and the borders have been virtually sealed.

Netanyahu has thrived in the crisis, delivering stern televised addresses nearly every evening.

Presenting himself as the responsible adult steering the country through an unprecedented emergency, he has defended the tough steps, including the electronic surveillance, as measures he has reluctantly been forced to impose in order to save lives, while his opponents are focused on petty politics.

In a televised interview Wednesday, Netanyahu said that during his 11 years as prime minister, he had always refused to use surveillance on Israeli citizens. He said there would be maximum oversight to protect privacy concerns.

But critics say that is exactly what he has done by allowing Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, a member of his Likud party, to suspend parliamentary proceedings. Edelstein has cited technical reasons, but political opponents accuse him of stonewalling on behalf of the prime minister to prevent them from pushing forward with legislation that could bring Netanyahu’s time in office to an end.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2020