2013 Israeli protests

2013 Israeli protests
Date	May and November 2013
Location	Israel
Goals	Abolishment of Haredi conscription Prevention of displacement of Bedouin
Status	Ongoing
Number
Tens of thousands

In 2013, several independent protests occurred in Israel. In May, the Tal Law ruling in 2012 led to protests by Haredi against conscription. Again in November, Bedouins in the Negev called for a Day of Rage against their displacement.

Haredi protests

Following announcements that the new government plans to gradually incorporate the Haredi Jewish population of Israel into the country's armed forces, there were widespread protests against the government and the draft. On 16 May of that year, between 15,000 and 30,000 Haredim demonstrated outside an IDF recruiting office in Jerusalem. Some reportedly threw stones and bottles at police and called them Nazis.

Bedouin protests

The Prawer-Begin plan to move Bedouins out of unrecognised villages, which the government has termed "illegal" and a "land grab," is intended to move them to state-planned towns. Former General Doron Almog, who is tasked with implementing the plan, said: "The idea is to ... better integrate Jews and Bedouins; to bring many more Bedouins to our work force; to employ and educate many more women for employment; and to build new communities; and to expand some of the current communities and make them modern." Its stated aim is also to "modernise" the Bedouin and improve their quality of life. US$340m has been allocated over five years for the project.

A Day of Protest was called against the plan that organisers said would evict 40,000 Bedouin citizens from their homes and into impoverished townships. The main protest was scheduled to be held near the Bedouin township of Hura on 30 November, with other protests planned in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and in several other cities across Europe, North America and the Middle East. Bedouin activist Huda Abu-Obeid said: "The government is trying to present the plan as 'in the best interest of the Bedouin', while with one hand it is acting to destroy Bedouin villages… and with the other it is building new Jewish localities in the Negev, some of these in the very same places where the [Bedouin] villages stand today."

Following expectation the plan would fail a Knesset vote it was canceled. Benny Begin, who jointly formulated the plan, said: "Right and left, Arabs and Jews joined forces - while exploiting the plight of many Bedouin - to heat things up for political gain. There is no majority in the coalition for the bill. [But Netanyahu agreed to] carry out the development plan for Bedouin settlements in the coming years."