Thousands of Israelis march through central Tel Aviv demanding the government join the U.K., Ireland, France, and Canada in declaring a climate emergency.
By Haggai Matar and Oren Ziv
Thousands of people marched in central Tel Aviv as part of the global climate strike on Friday, demanding that the government declare a climate emergency. The aim of such a move would be to compel the state’s various arms to immediately reduce their contribution to global warming. Throughout the past year, the U.K., Ireland, France and Canada have all declared a climate emergency.
A broad coalition of organizations protested in Tel Aviv, with young people heavily represented — one of the defining features of the ongoing wave of international climate strikes.
Demonstrators wore masks of Israeli political party leaders and waved effigies of other politicians, including U.S. President Donald Trump.
Marchers chanted numerous slogans throughout the protest, such as “A generation demands a future,” “The people demand climate justice,” “Jews and Arabs together for the climate,” and more.
Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide took part in Friday’s climate strike. A week earlier, millions of demonstrators around the world also took part in mass demonstrations to demand climate justice.
A version of this post originally appeared in Hebrew on Local Call. Read it here.