The streets around Jerusalem’s Parliament and Supreme Court were nearly deserted on Tuesday morning after chaotic scenes erupted throughout the night as protesters on horseback and armed with water cannons confronted police.
Demonstrators, who camped for days in a nearby park, had quietly packed up after the city served them an eviction order, leaving no trace of their tent city. At an intersection not far away, a small group of people waved blue and white Israeli flags and a rainbow flag, but police did not allow them to go near the parliament.
A passing car roared its support loudly. But the driver of another shouted “Only Bibi!” out the window in support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Some of the protesters had driven four hours to reach Jerusalem from the far north the day after the far-right, ultra-religious government passed legislation limiting the powers of the Supreme Court. This was the first step in a broader judicial reform plan that opponents say will undermine Israeli democracy and the rule of law.
There was largely calm across the country on Tuesday, with many going back to work and resuming their normal lives. Sentiment among opposition supporters was somber, a moment of defeat – a slap in the face – after months of fierce resistance.
Many were discouraged but determined to keep fighting.
“We are shocked by the defeat and are reassessing the means by which we can fight this law,” said Naama Ella Levy, 29, a farm worker from northern Israel.
Matan Ben-Gera, 40, from Ein Zivan, a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights near the Syrian border, was one of the few protesters still on the streets of Jerusalem.
“I’m only here because I’m a father,” he said, adding that he particularly fears for the future freedoms of his little daughters.
“We fear that the ministers and the government will create more and more divisions. I want to live in peace, first among my fellow Jews and then with our neighbors,” he said. “I am anxious.”
Supporters expressed relief at the new law, arguing that it only strengthens democracy by giving elected officials more power and unelected judges less power. Amid what many Israelis see as the deepest social divide since the founding of the modern state, some even felt compassion for the other side.
“No one wants, God forbid, a civil war,” wrote Ariel Kahana, a political commentator, in Israel Hayom, a far-right daily, on Tuesday. “No one is happy.”
Many of those who have been protesting against the government for 29 weeks straight are military reservists and veterans who say they are in it for the long haul.
“This is not a sprint,” said Aloni Cohen, 64, a retired engineer officer with the Navy’s submarine unit. “It’s a marathon. Like a submarine slowly approaching its destination.”
Mr Cohen occupied a tent near Parliament, which served as a base for the protesting reservists. He said on Tuesday that he and his comrades in the Panzer Corps were packing their bags because Parliament was nearing the summer recess.
“It feels like we’ve lost the battle, but we have a whole campaign ahead of us,” said Gil Syrkin, 64, a former reserve armored brigade chief and teacher who lives in the north. On Saturday he took part in the final leg of a protest march to Jerusalem.
“We have determination, love and a common destiny,” he added. “It gives us hope.”
Shortly before the tent city was dismantled, one of the demonstrators camping there summed up the mood with a handwritten sign on a piece of cardboard. “Next steps,” it said. “1. Cry. 2. Fighting.”
