הפגנת הגמלאים: "זו הכרזת מלחמה"

Police and the Israel Prison Service (IPS) retirees today protested against the proposal to grant salary supplements to IDF soldiers and retirees, and not to the police, the IPS, the Shin Bet, and the Mossad.

The retired lawmen disrupted traffic at the entrance to Jerusalem, obstructed vehicular movement and lit tires near the Prime Minister's Office. At one stage, some protesters managed to break into the Prime Minister's Office. Security guards imposed a total shut-down and ministers were asked not to approach the area.

The protest is being held in parallel to the cabinet meeting, and the demonstrators are making clear that the protest is being carried out on behalf of tens of thousands of police officers, IPS officers, and pensioners who can not unite.

The protesters carried signs reading Twelve Years they're Destroying Our Honor and Taking Our Lives; The police have no back; Don't enlist in the police; and The finance minister keeps lying to us.

According to a report by the news company, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan addressed the ministers and expressed his opposition to the decision. Erdan explained that the proposal meant discrimination and "creating a distinction between servants in various security bodies."

"The draft resolution contradicts the principles that guided Israeli governments in recent decades in terms of salaries of civil servants and pensioners in the security bodies, and is intended to circumvent the rulings of the labor courts to improve their positions towards a decision in a pending legal proceeding," Erdan said.

The reason for the supplement being paid only to the IDF is the "lack of job security" due to downsizing over the years, while according to the Public Security Minister, police also suffer lack of job security.