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Hundreds of Israelis defied wartime restrictions on mass gatherings Saturday, rallying in central Tel Aviv to demand an end to the conflict with Iran even as Iranian missiles rained down on the city, forcing the demonstration to break up and sending protesters scrambling for shelter.
Demonstrators held signs reading "Don't bomb, talk! End the endless war!" and chanted slogans against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, voicing opposition not only to the Iran campaign but to Israel's simultaneous military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, and what they described as settler violence in the West Bank.
Alon-Lee Green, co-director of Standing Together, a Jewish-Arab grassroots movement that has organized anti-war demonstrations inside Israel since the Gaza conflict began in October 2023, was among several protest leaders detained by police during the rally.
"Police are trying to silence our voice," Green said before his detention. "In Israel, there's always a war. So, if we're not allowed to demonstrate, we will never be allowed to speak."
Green's organization has become one of the most prominent voices of dissent within Israeli society during the country's overlapping military campaigns, mobilizing both Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel around a platform of peace, equality, and social justice.
Among those in the crowd, skepticism about the government's stated rationale for the war ran alongside broader frustrations with Netanyahu's leadership. Cecile, 62, who declined to give her last name, said she doubted the official justification for the campaign.
"I'm very suspicious of the reasons. I think the main reason is that Bibi wants to stop his trial," she said, using Netanyahu's widely recognized nickname.
The remark reflects a long-running controversy surrounding the prime minister, who is facing a corruption trial and has sought a presidential pardon, with U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly pressing Israeli President Isaac Herzog to grant one.
Cecile also questioned whether the campaign had any coherent endpoint. "The reasons for the war keep moving and changing all the time. We don't know what will be considered a success or a failure, and we don't know how long it's gonna take," she said.
In a video statement released Saturday evening, Netanyahu showed no sign of wavering. "I promised you that we would continue to strike the terror regime in Tehran, and that is exactly what we are doing," he said, announcing strikes on Iran's petrochemicals infrastructure, a day after hitting its steel-producing facilities.
"These two things are their cash machine for funding the war of terror against us and against the entire world," he said.
The strikes are part of a joint military campaign that the United States and Israel have conducted against Iran since February 28, prompting the Islamic Republic to respond with daily missile barrages targeting Israel and several neighboring countries across the region.
The Tel Aviv demonstration came to an abrupt close Saturday evening when authorities issued an alert warning of an incoming missile.
Several waves of Iranian missiles had already been launched toward Israel since midnight, with at least five people injured according to Israeli medics, including strikes targeting Tel Aviv and other areas of central Israel.
Minutes after protesters began dispersing, the Israeli military reported detecting an additional incoming missile launched from Yemen.
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