Large crowds of Israelis demonstrate opposition to conflict, confront authorities

Demonstrators converged on HaBima Square in Tel Aviv on March 28, 2026, to participate in the weekly anti-war protest, brandishing banners as they gathered.

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The US and Israel's strikes against Iran on February 28 had sparked a fierce retaliation, with the Islamic republic responding with missile attacks across the region, setting the stage for the protests.

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Hundreds of people assembled in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities on Saturday to protest the war in the Middle East, defying security forces' attempts to disperse the unauthorised demonstrations.

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Weekly protests against the war, launched by Israel and the United States against Iran on February 28, have been ongoing in Tel Aviv and elsewhere, initially drawing only a few dozen participants but now experiencing a rise in numbers.

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Although the numbers are still far from the tens of thousands who filled the streets last year to protest the war in Gaza, the momentum appears to be building, with a number of former parliamentarians and prominent left-wing organisations joining Saturday's rallies.

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Organisations such as Standing Together, Peace Now, and Women Wage Peace were among those who participated in the rallies, lending their support to the cause.

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A number of law enforcement officers were seen removing demonstrators in Tel Aviv, as captured by AFP footage, while similar scenes were filmed by activists in the northern city of Haifa.

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Under current wartime security guidelines, gatherings of more than 50 people are prohibited in Israel, given the country's daily exposure to barrages of missiles and rockets from Iran and Lebanon.

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A spokesperson for one of the organising groups confirmed to AFP that the protests had not been authorised, highlighting the tensions between the demonstrators and the authorities.

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In Tel Aviv, AFP journalists witnessed security forces pushing back some demonstrators forcefully, knocking several to the ground, while at least one protester was held in a chokehold.

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The Israeli police stated that the "illegal demonstration" was dispersed after a Home Front Command representative clarified that such a gathering was prohibited under emergency regulations, resulting in the arrest of 13 people in the city.

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Another five people were detained in Haifa, where "rioters began blocking the road and did not comply with the officers' instructions", according to the police.

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Organisers from the Jewish-Arab activist group Standing Together released a statement claiming that police had been "instructed to carry out arrests and silence dissent", and that "the government fears the expansion of the protest movement".

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Yoram, a 52-year-old tour guide who declined to give his last name, expressed his concerns at the beginning of the Tel Aviv rally, stating that "we are four weeks into the war, and nobody actually knows what is the aim".

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Joanne Levine, 76, shared similar sentiments, adding that in her view, the war was part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "game plan", and that "no one's thought how the hell we're going to get out of it, and there's no end in sight".

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Public support for the war against Iran remains high in Israel, with a poll published by the Israel Democracy Institute on Friday finding that 78 percent of Jewish Israelis back the war.

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In contrast, only 19 percent of the Arab Israeli minority support the war, according to the same poll, which also found that the share of those opposed has grown from four percent in early March to 11.5 percent now.