Protests Erupt in Israel Over the Weekend
Over the weekend, Israel experienced some of the largest protests since Hamas’s brazen terror attack sparked the war in Gaza 22 months ago. As many as 1 million protesters country-wide massed in support of the remaining hostages and called for Israel to end the war.
“Many businesses observed a popular strike and groups of activists and sympathizers blocked major highways as protests went on into the night,” The New York Times reported.
While there were clashes with authorities and dozens of arrests, the protests were mostly nonviolent.
Speakers at rallies criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s plan to eradicate Hamas’s control completely in Gaza with a new, sweeping military offensive. They noted the government’s stated desire to bring home the 50 hostages that remain in control of Hamas, 20 of whom Israeli authorities believe are still alive. However, the protesters say that the two goals are contradictory and that peace is the only way to ensure release of the hostages.
“Trying to achieve both goals in tandem is no longer valid when you are approaching two years since the October attack,” Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a nonpartisan research group based in Jerusalem, told the Times. “While defeating Hamas may take many more months and years, bringing back the hostages doesn’t have the same time frame.”
Nevertheless, Netanyahu held a press conference on Sunday in which he said the new military offensive, which previous announcements claimed would focus on occupying Gaza City, would be more far-reaching into areas he described as “central camps” in other areas of the Gaza Strip under Hamas control.
A backdrop to the protests and Israel’s announced military expansion is the humanitarian crisis that has taken hold in Gaza. The World Food Programme reported that thousands of children under five-years-old are suffering from acute malnutrition—“the deadliest form of undernutrition”—and 500,000 people are on the brink of famine. At the same time, temperatures soared, surpassing 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius).
Many international organizations and several governments have criticized Israel’s handling of efforts to bring aid to the region.
“Israel is permitting more food to enter Gaza, including coordinating airdrops by European and regional countries, and authorizing a controlled supply of private sector goods that has lowered slightly the high cost of some items in the market,” The Washington Post reported. “But the amount of aid is still too little—and much too late—to immediately turn the tide against widespread hunger within the population, medics and UN officials say.”
“On 21 July, 30 states from the Global North condemned Israel’s denial of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza, days after 12 Global South states announced measures to pursue accountability for Israel’s ‘illegal policies and practices,’” Middle East expert Will Todman wrote for the Center for Strategic & International Studies. “France also became the first G7 member to declare its intention to recognize Palestine as a state. Then, 109 humanitarian organizations warned of ‘mass starvation.’ These moves, along with growing public outcry around the world at images from Gaza, prompted Netanyahu’s fears that Israel was losing the support of even its traditional allies.”
