Ahead of a Vehicle Protest, a Look Back at Major Israeli Demonstrations and a Harsh Warning on Lebanon

The program “Davar Rishon,” hosted by Moshe Mansas, aired a special segment ahead of a planned car protest and reviewed major demonstrations in Israel’s history and within the ultra-Orthodox public. It also featured United Torah Judaism figure and Jerusalem deputy mayor Tzachi Brim, who discussed the expected vehicle convoy and the political and religious tensions around it.

Brim said the protest will involve car convoys leaving about 20 locations around Israel and converging toward Route 10, in an effort to protest what organizers see as attempts to harm Torah study and detain yeshiva students and married students. Asked why many Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox rabbis and yeshiva heads were staying away, he said they feared any slide into violence and did not want an incident that would turn the protest from a sanctification of God’s name into a desecration of it. He stressed that no rabbi had publicly opposed the protest, and said it has quiet support, including requests from senior figures in other sectors to join.

The program also hosted military correspondent Shay Levi of mako, who delivered a sharp critique of the situation in Lebanon and what he described as a loss of public trust. Levi said the country had moved from the early achievements of the campaign, including the pagers operation and the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, to a strategic failure in which the army and security officials are selling unrealistic plans to politicians and civilians while Hezbollah keeps firing, killing soldiers and launching drones.

Levi added that the problem is not limited to Lebanon. He said the military withholds real-time information from residents and emergency teams in the Gaza border area, even during operational incidents, and that this endangers lives. He also accused the defense establishment of hiding behind security classifications and grand terms like “strategic” to silence criticism, and said critical journalists are sidelined while friendlier reporters receive better access. Levi concluded that “the spokesperson’s office is not the way to know the truth,” and said most of his real information comes from independent sources in the field.