Shocking moment nervous new driver hands the wheel to his father when surrounded by protesters in Israel… only for dad to accidentally floor it and crash through the demonstrators

A woman was hospitalised after a father accidentally drove through a crowd of protesters when his son, a nervous new driver, handed him the wheel.

Several people, both commuters and protesters, were thrown to the ground by the grey car as it careened into them on a Tel Aviv highway on Saturday night. 

A man, believed to be the father, was pulled out of the car after it came to a halt while a younger man, believed to be the son, sat wordlessly in the front passenger seat. 

A female passenger was spotted panicking in the back of the grey car shortly after it came to a stop. 

Israeli police let the unnamed father go on Sunday morning despite ramming the crowd of demonstrators, who were protesting major judicial reforms in Israel. 

Cops reportedly believed the father’s claims that he had no intention of hitting the demonstrators. 

The Times of Israel reported that his son, a new driver, was driving the car before he got overwhelmed by the protesters blocking the road.

The father, in the front passenger seat, decided to switch seats with his son, but accidentally hit the gas when he was moving into the driver’s seat, causing the car to jolt forward into the protesters. 

The incident drew swift condemnation from Israel’s highest echelons, with prime minister Benjamin Netenyahu writing in a statement that he ‘strongly condemns any form of violence and calls on everyone to act with restraint and uphold the law.’

The shock incident came just days after Israel’s transport minister Miri Regev was caught on tape urging her driver to drive through a group of guards and police officers who were blocking her car from moving.

This isn’t the first time anti-judicial reform protesters have been run over this year. In July, three people were injured when a car rammed through a crowd marching against the government’s overhaul of the country’s judicial system. 

Israel has seen 36 straight weeks of protest after the country’s coalition government pushed through a series of controversial pieces of legislation that critics claim will severely weaken the country’s democracy. 

In July, the coalition government, led by Netenyahu’s right-wing Likud party, passed the so-called ‘reasonableness’ bill, which removed Israel’s Supreme Court ability to cancel government decisions that it considers unreasonable. 

On top of this, the government is also looking to weaken the Supreme Court’s power to review and throw laws out by letting a majority of just one in the Knesset, the country’s parliament, to overrule judicial decisions. 

The government also wants to scrap the requirement for ministers to obey the advice given by their legal advisers. 

While Netanyahu and his allies say the changes will strengthen Israeli democracy by limiting the authority of unelected judges and giving elected officials more powers over decision-making, critics say the reforms are a power grab fueled by personal and political grievances of Netanyahu – who is currently on trial for corruption charges – and his partners. 

Netanyahu was indicted with charged of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate scandals involving media moguls and wealthy friends in 2019, and has consistently denied the charges. 

Earlier this year, Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan told the corruption trial that Netenyahu and his wife demanded a nearly £160,000 ‘supply line’ of pink champagne and jewellery, and would complain if their cigars were not the right size. 

He told Israeli prosecutors that he and the prime minister had a secret language for the gifts that he gave. 

Milchan, who produced major films including L.A. Confidential, The Revenant and 12 Years a Slave, said he routinely gave the couple tens of thousands of dollars in lavish gifts in exchange for personal and professional favours.