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https://www.nytimes.com/2 .. -hostages.html
Protests that culminated in a mass rally in Tel Aviv attended by hundreds of thousands of people over the weekend have exposed a yawning chasm between many Israelis and the unpopular hard-line government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Demonstrations called for Sunday had been billed as a day of Israeli solidarity with the families of the hostages held in Gaza and a call to stop the war and bring the captives home. Many businesses observed a popular strike and groups of activists and sympathizers blocked major highways as protests went on into the night. Dozens were arrested.
The scale of the turnout in Tel Aviv indicated that pressure is intensifying on Mr. Netanyahu, who has been almost impervious to public sentiment two years into Israel’s increasingly contentious and expanding offensive in Gaza, set off by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel.
The Israeli public is particularly divided over Mr. Netanyahu’s government’s stated goals in Gaza: eliminating Hamas as a military and ruling force and releasing the remaining 50 hostages, about 20 of whom Israel believes to be alive.
Complicating matters for Mr. Netanyahu is that the more unpopular he becomes, the more support he needs to stay in power from the hard-line members of his government, who have adamantly opposed ending the war, said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a nonpartisan research group based in Jerusalem.
For Mr. Netanyahu, whose coalition would not get re-elected today according to numerous Israeli polls, “the protests matter less, and intra-coalition politics carry more weight.” Mr. Plesner said.
The main demand of the protesters on Sunday was for the government to prioritize bringing the hostages home. That comes as the government and military move ahead with a plan to take over Gaza City, and possibly the rest of the enclave, in the face of international censure, a dire humanitarian crisis and concerns that the lives of the captives would be endangered.
“Trying to achieve both goals in tandem is no longer valid when you are approaching two years since the October attack,” Mr. Plesner said.
“While defeating Hamas may take many more months and years, bringing back the hostages doesn’t have the same time frame,” he said. Recent videos of two of the hostages, filmed by their captors, showed them in an emaciated state, alarming Israelis and raising questions about how long they could stay alive.
President Trump appeared to back Mr. Netanyahu’s position on Monday, writing in a social media post: “We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be.”
The October attack led by Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israel — mostly civilians — with an additional 250 taken hostage. The subsequent Israeli campaign against Hamas has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including 18,000 children and minors, according to Gazan health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Complicating matters for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, is that the more unpopular he becomes, the more support he needs from the hard-line members of his government, an analyst said.Credit...Eric Lee for The New York Times
While Israel says its military takes precautions to protect civilians in Gaza and accuses Hamas of using them as human shields, there has been little apparent introspection among the high command over the death toll.
Aharon Haliva, Israel’s former military intelligence chief who resigned over his part in the failure to foresee and prevent the October 2023 attack, was heard in leaked, undated recordings aired on Friday by Channel 12 News saying that 50,000 dead in Gaza was “necessary and required for future generations,” and that “For every person who was killed on Oct. 7, 50 Palestinians must die.”
Channel 12 included a statement from Mr. Haliva acknowledging making the comments, but saying that he regretted they had been made public.
In the recording, Mr. Haliva also excoriated political leaders who he said bore responsibility for the failure, including Mr. Netanyahu, for refusing to resign.
The organizers of the protest Sunday — relatives of hostages and people killed in the October 2023 attack — insisted that it was not meant to be political.
Some members of the government nevertheless went on the attack.
Mr. Netanyahu criticized the protesters on Sunday, saying, “Those who are calling for an end to the war today, without defeating Hamas, are not only hardening Hamas’s stance and pushing off the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of Oct. 7 will recur again and again.”
When a bereaved mother tried on Sunday to address a vigil outside the home of the education minister, Yoav Kisch, from Mr. Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party, her words were drowned out by loud music coming out of the house. Another Likud lawmaker, Hanoch Milwidsky, said the protests were “riots in support of Hamas.”
The Israeli campaign against Hamas has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including 18,000 children and minors, according to Gazan health officials.Credit...Saher Alghorra for The New York Times
But many who want to see the hostages released quickly say that a cease-fire must be achieved first and that Hamas will always give Israel an excuse to resume fighting later.
And while Mr. Netanyahu says Hamas was responsible for the impasse in negotiations, the group blames Israel.
Few Israelis had any illusion that the demonstration Sunday would have any immediate impact on the government after nearly two years of weekly protests. Many of those who attend those protests say they do so not out of any expectation of forcing a change, but to let the families of the hostages know they are not alone.
Prof. Tamar Hermann, an Israeli public opinion expert, said the movement to free the hostages had become “colored by politics” as the weekly protests pressuring the government to reach a deal with Hamas had mixed with anti-government demonstrations that began well before the war.
“The vast majority of the participants are people that wouldn’t vote for the coalition’s parties even if you pulled out their fingernails,” Professor Hermann said. “And so from the government’s perspective, they have no reason to change their policy,” she said.
Nili Bresler, 73, who was protesting in Tel Aviv on Sunday, said, “People have normalized the situation, there are hostages in Gaza and a lot of the young generation seem to be able to live with that.”
She added that Israeli soldiers were being sent off to fight in “a useless war that cannot be won.”
Organizers of the protest said more than 400,000 people turned out in Tel Aviv on Sunday night. The police did not provide any official estimate, but the crowds packed a large plaza that has been renamed Hostages Square and the surrounding streets and the protest was considered the largest of its kind in almost a year.
The number 400,000 holds a symbolism for many older Israelis. In the early 1980s, an estimated 400,000 people rallied in Tel Aviv against Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in what was described as the largest protest in the history of the country, whose population was then half what it is now.
But those were very different times. Mr. Plesner noted that the prime minister at the time, Menachem Begin, who founded the Likud party, “First of all respected the protesters and took them into account.” Ultimately, Mr. Begin resigned.
Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting from Jerusalem and Johnatan Reiss from Tel Aviv.
Isabel Kershner, a Times correspondent in Jerusalem, has been reporting on Israeli and Palestinian affairs since 1990.
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