An angry mob last month blocked access to the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in an attempt to keep members from voting on next year’s budget. Israel Katz, the defense minister, was forced to arrive via helicopter. The budget passed, but Israelis were shaken by what some said was a new level of escalation in the effort to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“It really reminded me of what I saw on TV on Jan. 6, 2021,” said a spectator, who requested anonymity. “They didn’t make it into the Knesset—the police eventually managed to arrest some of them and break up the others—but their goal was the same: to stop the democratically elected government of Israel from doing what people elected it to do.”