Protest held outside Barak’s residence against an Israeli strike on Iran

TEHRAN,Aug.15(MNA) – Some 200 people gathered on Sunday evening in front of Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s residence in Tel Aviv to protest against an Israeli strike in Iran, Ynetnews reported. The demonstrators called out: “No to war” and “No to a strike in Iran.” Participants included left wing politicians and activists MK Dov Khenin (Hadash), Eldad Yaniv, and Israeli filmmaker Doron Tsabari, as well as many others. Tsabari, who is among the protest organizers, said he was “shocked” after reading all the Friday newspapers. “What I read was that a decision to go to war has been made against the position of the entire security echelon. We are approaching an abyss. This will be a crazed war.” Tel Aviv City Councilwoman Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) said, “This is a civilian gathering. It shows that the media’s incitement to war can also work in the opposite direction. I don’t know what (Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu thinks, but even if it starts with cynicism or an attempt to affect the United States, it can get out of control and get a life of its own. At some point, we will not be able to stop it.” Protester Shachar Cotani added, “It doesn’t matter if the threat is serious or not, it is an existential threat for all of us. It may mean the dismantling of democracy. It’s important to come and protest against it.” Majority of Israelis opposed to attacking Iran: poll Israel’s Channel 10 reported on Sunday that the majority of Israelis oppose a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. A poll conducted by the Dialogue Institute under the supervision of Dr. Kamil Fuchs found that 46 percent of respondents said that Israel should not attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, 32 percent advocated an Israeli strike, and 22 percent offered no opinion, according to the Times of Israel. The poll also showed that Israeli support for Netanyahu had waned in the past three months. According to the poll, only 34% expressed satisfaction with the prime minister, as opposed to 58% who said that they are dissatisfied. The remainder had no opinion. A similar survey conducted in May found that 46% were satisfied with the prime minister’s performance.