Some three hundred protesters, that's all, came to what was supposed to be a demonstration of support for Netanyahu on Thursday. That meager number gave the Left a few hours of pleasure and a feeling of significant superiority; an indication of the alleged decline in the popularity of the prime minister and proof of the victory of the Saturday demonstrations. I respect each and every one of the right-wing protesters, but the truth must be said: it's not working. True, it's more difficult to enlist protesters for a support demo for the regime. But when the Right has in the past felt its rule was in danger, and it was important enough for them, then tens of thousands came to Rabin Square.
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That, in fact, happened in response to the mass protest of "The Zionist Camp" ahead of the 2015 elections. And maybe this is the key to understanding what is seen as the Right's apathy. The Left is convinced that the Saturday night protests are "shaking the floors in Balfour," and they indeed cause discomfort amongst right-wingers. But analyzing the dynamics between movements and counter-movements teaches us that counter-protests take place when the other side sees a real threat from the movement in front of it. It could be that the Saturday protests, despite their operative success, are not creating the desired conscious effect, and do not awaken that instinctive response from the Right.
It may also be that the Right is indifferent because it sees just how much the enlistment calls for the Leftist demonstrations are based on an artificial conflict against the establishment. Their method reached a comic absurdity on Thursday, when former Shin Bet chief Carmi Gilon and others handcuffed themselves to the protest tent, only to be dragged away forcefully by police. It was a fairly standard staging of civil disobedience, the kind intended to create moral outrage. It's always amusing to watch the self-perception of this social stratum, which feels disgusted that anyone can think of them in terms of disrupters of public order.
But the real treat was when left-wingers, with a noticeable difficulty in delaying gratification, explained in their triumphant foolishness that the handcuffed limbs of Carmi Gilon are all that is needed to fill the square this Saturday as well. The rationale - to duplicate the "boomerang effect" after the arrest of Amir Haskel - was as transparent as a TV prank show.
To this they added manipulative use of the horrid rape in Eilat to enlist more protestors. The activists shared a sickening video connecting the rape to the recordings (yes, those) of Yair Netanyahu - as if the horror in Eilat is part of a rape culture that "Balfour" perpetuates. A prominent activist said that rapists were acting "to become part of power and violence together. This is the essence of fascism. And it is against this that we are protesting." The gang rape is part and parcel of the rule of evil, and therefore those who support the regime support the rape. It's an insult to intelligence and morality, and not the only example of this simplistic populism.
What's clear is that the Left's protest is in need of a rage generator week after week - the arrest of someone privileged; comments from politicians like: "nonsense," "aliens," "doing lines;" and even now the alleged rape in Eilat – to enlist the masses. This is because the demonstrations have become the goal itself. They are the response to a psycho-political need to feel a bond and relevance after 11 years in the opposition which have not grown any leadership, any agenda, or any ideological alternative. This is the reason the Right feels no acute need to refute the "We won at Balfour" call. Although, this may also turn out to be complacency.
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