Far-left rally (illustrative)
Far-left rally (illustrative)Israel news photo: file

Extreme-left Israeli groups protested on Sunday against the IDF response to Syrians who attempted to break through the northern border. Soldiers opened fire as hundreds of Syrians invaded the Golan, killing one and wounding several others.

The groups, among them Hithabrut-Tarabut and Coalition of Women for Peace, declared, “It is clear that yet again the state of Israel has chosen to use lethal force to repress a popular uprising of unarmed citizens, who were marking Nakba Day.”

Several IDF soldiers were injured by the “unarmed” protesters, who used heavy stones to attack security forces.

The rally in Tel Aviv also protested the attack on Sunday morning, carried out by an Arab man from Kfar Kassam, in which one person was killed and more than 20 wounded. “The concern has risen that the killing and the injuries in Tel Aviv this morning were caused by a fatal attack on innocent civilians,” the groups said, adding that they would demand, “a total stop to killing civilians on either side.”

“We will also express our full support for popular uprisings for equality, freedom, the end of the occupation, and a just solution to the problem of the refugees,” they concluded.

Ayelet Harpaz of Coalition of Women for Peace said at the rally, “We came to protest the injustice of the occupation, which has continued for 63 years and refuses to end.” Israel was created 63 years ago.

Only 100 people or so participated in the rally, some Jewish and some Arab. Protesters waved PLO flags and held signs saying, “The IDF is the world's more moral terrorist organization,” and “IDF soldiers are murderers.”