Janice R. Andrews
Israel is at a breaking point after almost 11 months of a deadly war that has left the country deeply split and cut off from the rest of the world. Six hostages who had been held in Gaza since October 7 have died, which has made people all over the country very angry and sad. On Monday, hundreds of thousands of people protested in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and other cities, calling for the government to do something. A national strike threatened to shut down the Israeli economy.
The huge rise in public discontent messed up normal life in Israel, hurting planes, hospitals, and banks. It was also a big moment in a campaign that has been going on for months to get Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to talk to Hamas about ending the fighting. There are concerns about the future of Israel’s politics and society because the government won’t give in, even though a lot of people are protesting.
Public Outrage Hits a High Point
Six hostages—Israeli Americans Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Master Sgt. Ori Danino—were taken by Hamas and their bodies were found almost 11 months later. This has caused a new wave of unrest. The prisoners were taken during an attack by Hamas on October 7. They were later found dead in Gaza, which caused a lot of protests in Israel. Many Israelis say that their government didn’t do enough to get the prisoners released. They say that Netanyahu’s government abandoned the hostages and didn’t deal well with Hamas.
Nick Goren, a senior fellow for Israeli affairs at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C., said, “There’s a lot of anger.” “The fact that the six hostages who were found dead in Gaza were still alive just a few days ago and that military pressure did not bring them home really showed how scared people were about this hostage crisis.” A lot of people in Israel are very upset about the loss because their safety is very important to them.
A Nationwide Strike Shows a Country in Trouble
Many Israelis feel deeply betrayed by their government, which is why there is a national strike over the loss and anger. The families of the prisoners who died held sad funerals where anger and sadness filled the air. At Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s wake, people waved Israeli flags and posters from Hapoel Tel Aviv, his favorite soccer team, while his parents gave moving speeches.
His dad, Jon Polin, told him, “Hersh, we all failed you.” “You wouldn’t have let yourself down. You would have done more to get justice. In the same way, his mother, Rachel Goldberg, asked, “How do we live the rest of our life without you?” She begged for the death of her son to change what she called the “horrible situation” that was sweeping the country.
The funerals were a strong reminder of how the ongoing war hurts people and showed how frustrated many Israelis are getting. President Isaac Herzog also spoke at Goldberg-Polin’s funeral. He was sorry and said, “As a person, as a father, and as president of the state of Israel, I want to say how sorry I am.” I’m so sorry we didn’t look out for Hersh that night. I’m so sorry we weren’t able to get him home.
More and more calls for a ceasefire
A lot of Israelis want the fighting to stop because the prisoners’ deaths have made them feel like enough is enough. A study done in May by the Israel Democracy Institute in Jerusalem found that 56% of Jewish people in Israel thought that getting a deal for the release of prisoners held in Gaza should be more important than continuing with larger military operations in southern Gaza. Even though Washington is hopeful and there have been more steps in the past few weeks to help Israel and Hamas reach a deal, there has been no progress.
International experts and U.S. officials have said many times that Hamas is stopping talks. On the other hand, Netanyahu has also been criticized lately. U.S. President Joe Biden has said that Netanyahu isn’t doing enough to reach a deal, which makes an already difficult position even more difficult.
Political Stuck and the Way Forward
Yoav Gallant, the Israeli Defense Minister, asked Israel’s security Cabinet to meet and rethink its position on a major point of contention in the negotiations: Israel’s desire to be able to keep a presence along the Philadelphi Corridor, which borders Egypt and Gaza. Gallant wrote on social media, “It’s too late for the abductees who were killed in cold blood. The abductees who are still held captive by Hamas must be brought back home.”
“The prospects of reaching a deal in the future are almost non-existent,” Nimrod Goren warned if Netanyahu insisted on keeping a presence along the Philadelphi Corridor. He also said that the remaining prisoners “may have the same fate” as the ones who were recently found dead.
A Nation Torn Apart and Tired
The deaths of the hostages and the current military actions in Gaza have made things worse between different groups in Israel. Some 1,200 people were killed and about 250 were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7. Israeli sources say that there are still about 100 hostages in Gaza, and that about a third of them are dead. Local news sources say that during Israel’s months-long assault, more than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza.
The country of Israel is at a crossroads as it deals with the effects of the hostage deaths and the wider effects of its war policy. People are losing patience, and it’s still not clear how the government can handle this problem without splitting the country even more or making the conflict worse. Now the question is whether Israel’s leaders will listen to the calls for a halt and put the safe return of prisoners first, or they will keep ramping up the military, which could make the country even less visible on the world stage.
