Protesters press demand for Olmert resignation

updated 6:24 p.m. ET May 3, 2007

TEL AVIV, Israel - Tens of thousands streamed onto a Tel Aviv square after sundown Thursday, demanding that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resign because of a government inquiry’s scathing criticism of his handling of the inconclusive war in Lebanon last summer.

Olmert remained defiant, hoping to beat back a rising wave of calls to step down. A day after his popular foreign minister joined the chorus, Olmert’s aides argued it was not a mortal political blow but conceded a large-scale public protest campaign could bring him down.

Turnout on the square in front of Tel Aviv’s City Hall appeared to top 100,000, but police refused to estimate the crowd’s size.

The rally drew a cross-section of Israelis — moderates and hard-liners, secular and religious, young and old, a rare mix symbolizing the widespread dissatisfaction with Olmert.

“Failures, Go Home!” read a banner erected behind the podium, where parents of soldiers killed in the conflict were scheduled to speak.

Organizers decided not to let politicians address the crowd to give the gathering a grass-roots feeling, said Uzi Dayan, a retired general. “There are no politicians here, but this is a political event,” he said.

Also addressing the gathering was Moshe Muskal, 50, of the central town of Mazkeret Batya. His son, Rafnael, was killed during the war. “I am glad that the public is not passive or despairing,” he told The Associated Press. He said the soldiers “fulfilled their mission fully. Our mission is to make our country a little bit better.”

Size proportionate with outrage
Some previous Israeli political demonstrations have attracted hundreds of thousands of protesters, and the size of this one was seen as a critical sign of the extent of public anger.

Edan Mehallel, 16, said he came to make a difference. “The more people there are, the more influence the demonstration will have,” he said.

Past protests in the same Tel Aviv square have started political earthquakes. A demonstration after Israel’s hard-fought 1973 war to turn back invasions by Egypt and Syria led to the resignations of legendary Prime Minister Golda Meir and Defense Minister Moshe Dayan.

Alon Davidi and 34 other protesters marched 45 miles to Tel Aviv from the southern town of Sderot, a frequent target of rockets from Palestinian militants in Gaza.

“We want as many people as possible to come to the square and say, ‘Ehud Olmert, go home,”’ Davidi told Israel Army Radio.

Israel went to war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon on July 12 after guerrillas crossed into Israel, killed three soldiers and captured two others.

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