Packed in at Rabin Square

May 4, 2007 - 5:46 PM by Nicky

When my son Daniel got home from school yesterday, I told him we were going to take him to last night’s demonstration against Olmert in Tel Aviv.
I’d prepared a little speech about Olmert, the Lebanon War, and the various corruption scandals. He’s only nine. I wasn’t sure he even knew who Olmert was.
“Oh mummy I know all that,” he said.
“How do you know?”
“All my friends have been talking about it since the start.”
“Okay,” I said, impressed anew by the political awareness of children in Israel.
“Didn’t he also do something bad with a woman who wasn’t his wife?” Daniel then asked.
“Eh. No. It wasn’t him. But close. It was the president, Moshe Katzav - someone else who refused to quit despite everyone asking him to.”
So we went to the rally. We were late, and I was worried we’d miss the main part of it. I was wrong, however. Even some distance away the streets were full of people walking to the demonstration in Rabin Square.
The taxi driver complained the whole way, clearly put out that the streets around the square had been closed off. “So many queues, we’ll never get there. It’ll take us half an hour just to get down Alozorov.” He grumbled the whole way through the city, even though it only took about 15 minutes in the end.
The large square was full to bursting, crammed tight with people who had come out, like us, despite the oppressive heat – 30 degrees – and occasional showers of hot, dirty rain.
People were carrying placards, and had stickers plastered across every conceivable surface of their bodies.
What impressed me most was how mixed the crowd was. We squeezed our way towards the middle, to a spot that was slightly less packed, and watched the rally. Behind us were two orthodox families with their children, to our right a man with long dreadlocks, to the left a party of conservative pensioners fanning themselves with leaflets calling for politics without politicians, and in front a young couple with a dog. I think it was the first time I’ve ever been to a rally attended by such a varied crowd.
We stayed for awhile, listened to the speeches and singing, clapped at the slogans, and when it got too hot retired to a nearby café for a cold coffee. Others had the same idea. The pavement café’s were packed with people attending the rally in comfort.
When Daniel started yawning, we called it a day. Even as we left, more people were coming. Students arriving from Tel Aviv University decked out in red T-shirts, and singing and dancing.
“I’m glad I made the effort to come,” said my friend, Revital, who had decided to come with us at the last moment. “I couldn’t sit back and let this go on anymore. I would have been ashamed of myself. There’s been so much corruption, so much appalling behavior by our politicians. They think they aren’t accountable. I’ve just had enough.”
It was clearly a thought that had motivated many of the others at the rally.
As for Daniel? “I’m tired mummy, can we go home.”