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TO SACRIFICE OR FREE THE HOSTAGES? ISRAELI PROTESTERS HAVE CHOSEN A
SIDE  
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Meron Rapoport
September 4, 2024
972 Magazine
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_ The huge Israeli protests have been about bringing down the
Netanyahu government. They also had a deeper, more subversive message.
Without any of the speakers explicitly saying as much, Sunday’s
demonstrations were for an end to the war. _

Demonstrators outside the Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv, September
2, 2024., (Itai Ron/Flash90)

 

For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the mass protests that
erupted across Israel on Sunday were all about overthrowing him and
his government. Certainly, this goal was stated explicitly by almost
every speaker who took to the stage at the main protest in Tel Aviv
— where reportedly more than 300,000
[[link removed]] Israelis flooded the
streets after the army’s recovery of the bodies of six more
hostages from Gaza, who had been executed shortly beforehand. Einav
Zangauker, the mother of the hostage Matan, captured the mood of much
of the public when she ordained Netanyahu with a new nickname: “The
executioner.”

But the protests, which have continued into the week, also had a
deeper, more subversive message that Netanyahu probably understood
too. Without any of the speakers explicitly saying as much, Sunday’s
demonstrations were for an end to the war. 

To be clear, such a statement was not uttered from the stage nor was
it seen on many placards, save for among the small pockets of
left-wing protesters that formed the anti-occupation bloc
[[link removed]]. On the
whole, opposition to the continuation of the war does not stem from
moral concerns: there was no mention whatsoever of Israel’s
genocidal actions in Gaza, nor was there a call for reconciliation or
peace with the Palestinians. Rather, the protesters are preoccupied
first and foremost with their fellow citizens held in Gaza, and
demanding a “Deal Now” that would result in their release. Still,
these calls have far-reaching significance.    

Even in the event of a temporary ceasefire that would facilitate an
initial hostage-prisoner exchange, such as the one envisaged by the
deal currently on the table
[[link removed]],
Netanyahu is likely concerned that it would be extremely difficult to
renew the war effort once the army has already withdrawn from the
Philadelphi and Netzarim
[[link removed]] corridors and
hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been allowed to return to
northern Gaza. Israeli society is exhausted, reservists are
increasingly dodging their draft orders
[[link removed]], Hamas is far from
defeated
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and by the end of the year it will be difficult to re-instill the
spirit of mobilization and the will to fight that was so strong
immediately after October 7. As such, Netanyahu fears, even a
short-term ceasefire would soon turn into a permanent one. 

Israeli society has always been highly militaristic, with a strong
tendency to rally behind the army in times of war. A mass anti-war
demonstration while a war is still raging is thus an extraordinary
event. The only parallel that comes to mind is the “demonstration of
the 400,000” after the Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982; yet even
then the emphasis was more on the immoral way in which the war was
being waged, rather than a protest against the war as a whole.

[Israelis protest for the release of hostages outside the Prime
Minister's official residence in Jerusalem, September 2, 2024. (Noam
Revkin Fenton/Flash90)]
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Israelis protest for the release of hostages outside the Prime
Minister's official residence in Jerusalem, September 2, 2024. (Noam
Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
Israelis protest for the release of hostages outside the Prime
Minister’s official residence in Jerusalem, September 2, 2024. (Noam
Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

Netanyahu was probably aiming to stir up this militarism when he
declared that Israeli troops must remain in the Philadelphi Corridor,
even at the expense of a hostage deal. After all, it is hard to
conceive of a goal more suited to the security discourse than cutting
off Hamas’ “oxygen route,” through which it supposedly smuggles
weapons into Gaza. But that argument didn’t satisfy the hundreds of
thousands who protested on Sunday night.

Even on Saturday evening, before the bodies of the six hostages were
recovered, Danny Elgarat, whose brother is still being held captive in
Gaza, asserted [[link removed]]: “You
[Netanyahu] turned the Philadelphi Corridor into the mass grave of the
hostages.” On Sunday evening, such messages were even stronger, and
the audience cheered for them without reservation.

Many prominent figures on the Israeli right, from Netanyahu himself to
the commentator Amit Segal
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sought to redirect the public’s anger toward Hamas for executing six
defenseless hostages, and away from Netanyahu and his government. But
even this argument, which just a few days ago would have rallied a
consensus in favor of “destroying Hamas,” no longer resonated.

“Netanyahu says that whoever murders hostages doesn’t want a
deal,” Ilana Gritzewsky, a freed hostage and the wife of Matan
Zangauker who is still being held in Gaza, said at the rally
[[link removed]] on Sunday. “But he
keeps putting spokes in the wheels and refusing the deal. He’s
murdering the hostages.” 

Consciously or not, the hundreds of thousands who flooded the streets
were an antidote to the poisonous security discourse that has been
injected into Israeli society for the past 11 months. They don’t buy
the talk of a “total victory” over Hamas, nor do they buy the
claim — marketed as an iron truth by politicians and journalists of
all inclinations — that “only military pressure will free the
hostages.” The bodies of Hersh
[[link removed]], Eden, Ori,
Alex, Carmel, and Almog were the conclusive proof of the futility of
such an argument.

[Israelis protest for the release of hostages outside the Prime
Minister's official residence in Jerusalem, September 2, 2024. (Noam
Revkin Fenton/Flash90)]
[[link removed]]
Israelis protest for the release of hostages outside the Prime
Minister's official residence in Jerusalem, September 2, 2024. (Noam
Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
Israelis protest for the release of hostages outside the Prime
Minister’s official residence in Jerusalem, September 2, 2024. (Noam
Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

Most importantly, they do not believe that the cessation of the war,
at least at this stage, is a threat to their existence, contrary to
what Netanyahu and his spokespeople have been claiming since the first
days of the fighting. Quite the opposite: they perceive the
continuation of the war as a direct threat to the lives of the
hostages and, to a certain extent, their own. This is the subversive
meaning of the call for a “Deal Now,” even if not everyone who
voiced it understood its implication.

A CHOICE BETWEEN ‘DEAL NOW’ AND ‘SACRIFICE NOW’

The Israeli right still argues that it is not the Philadelphi Corridor
that stands in the way of a deal, but rather Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar
and his impossible conditions. Most senior Israeli security
analysts now
[[link removed]] reject
[[link removed]] this
argument, insisting instead that it is the conditions set by
Netanyahu, under pressure from Bezalel Smotrich and others on the
far-right of his government, that are sabotaging the agreement —
even after Hamas surprised Israel by accepting a proposal that Israel
itself had submitted
[[link removed]].

But even if we accept the right’s narrative that Sinwar is the one
preventing a deal, this is not what lies at the root of the dispute
between those who see the Philadelphi Corridor as the bedrock of our
existence and those who are willing to give it up. By voting in favor
of Netanyahu’s proposal to keep hold of the Philadelphi Corridor,
those cabinet members are saying that the death of the hostages,
however painful and regrettable it may be, is a price that must be
paid in pursuit of “total victory” over the enemy. 

For Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, who suggested
[[link removed]] on October 7 “not
to give the hostages significant consideration,” this victory means
the elimination of Palestinians
[[link removed]] from
the equation altogether: the erasure of their cities, and the
expulsion of all or most of the Palestinian population living between
the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. For Netanyahu, it is not
always clear whether “total victory” means his life’s mission
of ensuring Jewish-Israeli dominance
[[link removed]] and
preventing Palestinian independence, or simply his own political
survival. Some would likely also be satisfied with Hamas’ surrender,
and believe that this is still possible. 

Ultimately, it comes down to a choice which is now abundantly, if
belatedly, clear to all: continue the war indefinitely and endanger
the lives of the hostages, or end the war in order to free them. The
Israeli right chooses the former, while the hundreds of thousands
taking to the streets don’t think any war goals are worth the blood
of the hostages.

[Israelis call for the release of hostages outside the Defense
Ministry Headquarters in Tel Aviv, September 2, 2024. (Itai
Ron/Flash90)]
[[link removed]]
Israelis call for the release of hostages outside the Defense Ministry
Headquarters in Tel Aviv, September 2, 2024. (Itai Ron/Flash90)
Israelis call for the release of hostages outside the Defense Ministry
Headquarters in Tel Aviv, September 2, 2024. (Itai Ron/Flash90)

We saw similar numbers of protesters on the streets for much of last
year, amid the controversy surrounding the government’s judicial
overhaul. But that, at least, was still about laws, which can always
change. Here we are talking about human lives: the sons, daughters,
mothers, and fathers still being held in Hamas’ tunnels in Gaza.

In this sense, the recovery of the bodies of the six hostages casts
serious doubt on the question of whether it is possible to speak of
“Israeli society” — Jewish-Israeli, of course — as a cohesive
body. The processes of disintegration and alienation are longstanding,
and they gained momentum in the face of the judicial overhaul and the
fierce struggle against it. Now, however, it is hard to see what
connects those who are willing to sacrifice the hostages and those who
see it as a crime or even a sin.

But while the “Sacrifice Now” camp has a clear plan for the future
— a long-standing war and the transformation of Israel into a kind
of modern Sparta
[[link removed]] —
the “Deal Now” camp has no alternative vision, one where Israel
could manage its relations with the Palestinians in any way other than
violent confrontation. It is even careful not to call openly or
decisively for a ceasefire or an end to the war, though that would be
the fairly certain outcome of any such deal. The lack of such a vision
and shared principles makes it very difficult to form a united front
that could affect political change.

Many protesters returned home on Sunday with the feeling that despite
their impressive show of force, the chances of forcing the government
to change course are slim. Indeed, under the current government,
Israel increasingly resembles a dictatorial regime even with regard to
its Jewish citizens, in which rulers do not need broad social support
to govern; it is enough for them to rule by force, deploying the army
against Palestinians and the police against Israeli citizens.

Netanyahu’s news conference on Monday night strengthened this
impression. Instead of showing any modicum of compassion to the masses
who took to the streets the night before in agony and despair, he
described those opposing his decision to remain in the Philadelphi
Corridor — including his defense minister Yoav Gallant and the top
brass in the army and security services — as helping Hamas. He vowed
to remain in the Philadelphi Corridor practically forever, effectively
blocking any chance for a ceasefire deal.

Still, we shouldn’t underestimate the subversive message that
Sunday’s demonstrations and those that followed conveyed. During a
raging war, they called for its cessation. In the face of a
militaristic propaganda machine, they presented civil discourse. In
the face of a government willing to sacrifice the hostages, they
demonstrated a deeper social and national solidarity.

At this stage, it is difficult to foresee whether this broad
mobilization will lead to political change; that will depend on many
components unrelated to the protest movement, including American
pressure
[[link removed]]. The
challenge is enormous, immensely greater than the one facing the
protest movements on Jerusalem’s Balfour Street in 2020 or Tel
Aviv’s Kaplan Street in 2023: not only toppling a government and
thwarting its legislative project, but stopping the longest and
bloodiest war in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But
a mass refusal to accept the narrative being fed from on high is an
important first step — and that is exactly what we’re now seeing.

_A version of this article was first published in Hebrew on Local
Call
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and co-published in English with The Nation
[[link removed]]._

_Meron Rapoport is an editor at Local Call._

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_+972 Magazine [[link removed]] is an independent,
online, nonprofit magazine run by a group of Palestinian and Israeli
journalists. Founded in 2010, our mission is to provide in-depth
reporting, analysis, and opinions from the ground in Israel-Palestine.
The name of the site is derived from the telephone country code that
can be used to dial throughout Israel-Palestine._

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