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ISRAEL: ‘THE MAJORITY WANT A HOSTAGE DEAL THAT ENDS THE WAR’  
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Uri Weltmann and Federico Fuentes
September 14, 2024
Green Left
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_ Israel has been rocked by an explosion of protests in recent weeks,
with trade unions staging a general strike on September 2 and an
estimated 750,000 Israelis taking to the streets on September 7 to
demand a hostage deal with Hamas. _

Israelis protesting to demand a cesasefire and hostage deal., Photo:
Standing Together / Green Left

 

The protests came in the wake of news reports on August 30 alleging
that Hamas had executed six more Israeli hostages. Family members of
the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 blame Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu for not doing enough to secure a deal that could
have halted the fighting and seen them return home.

Standing Together is a left-wing Israeli Jewish-Arab social movement
that has been campaigning for a permanent ceasefire and lasting
peace. FEDERICO FUENTES spoke to Standing Together national field
organiser URI WELTMANN about the protests and their impact on
Israeli politics.

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COULD YOU GIVE US A SENSE OF THE RECENT MASS PROTESTS AND GENERAL
STRIKES OF THE PAST COUPLE OF WEEKS?

Following news that Hamas militants had executed six Israeli hostages
imprisoned in an underground tunnel in the Gaza Strip, anti-government
protests in Israel, which have been ongoing for months, exploded in
size. Hundreds of thousands have since filled streets in Tel-Aviv,
Jerusalem, Haifa and other major cities, confronting police, blocking
roads and facing arrest.

The Histadrut, the main trade union federation in Israel and which has
a rather conservative leadership, declared a general strike in support
of the mass protest on September 2. Large sections of the Israeli
economy were affected: teachers did not show up for school and
kindergartens, municipal workers did not report to work in city halls,
and all international flights were cancelled as airport workers went
on strike.

After several hours of general strike, the labour courts issued an
injunction ordering workers to resume work, which the Histadrut
leadership respected. Nonetheless, major disruptions rippled through
Israeli society.

The mass anti-Netanyahu protest movement enjoys widespread support
among Israelis, as demonstrated by numerous public opinion polls.
While the main catalyst of this movement is the demand to free the
Israeli hostages through a negotiated deal, the fact is that any such
deal can only be achieved through a ceasefire agreement that ends the
current war.

This notion was reinforced by United States President [Joe] Biden in a
May speech where he called for resuming negotiations based on
releasing all Israeli hostages in exchange for a permanent cessation
of hostilities.

When people in Israel rally behind the protest movement for such a
deal, they understand this. In a
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respondents said they support a hostage release deal that includes
ending the war and a complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from
Gaza.

Netanyahu remains isolated, as he tries to sell the Israeli public the
lie that a hostage deal is possible while continuing the war.

THE FOCUS OF THE PROTESTS HAS BEEN ON THE ISRAELI HOSTAGES AND A
CEASEFIRE. WHAT ABOUT THE ISSUE OF MOUNTING PALESTINIAN CIVILIAN
DEATHS IN GAZA AND INCREASING MILITARY INCURSIONS INTO THE WEST BANK?
ARE THESE ISSUES ALSO BEING RAISED EITHER BY THE GENERAL PROTEST
MOVEMENT OR BY THE LEFT, INCLUDING STANDING TOGETHER?

The death toll in the Gaza Strip has been staggeringly high and
continues to rise on a daily basis. The scale of human suffering there
is beyond words. International experts warn of an unfolding
humanitarian catastrophe given the lack of proper food and medical
supplies.

At the same time, Israeli soldiers and violent settlers have shot dead
hundreds of Palestinians in what is now the deadliest year in recent
times in the West Bank too.

The mainstream of the protest movement avoids addressing these
realities, which are not only horrific in themselves but create
conditions that will undermine the future wellbeing and safety of
people in Israel for years to come.

Left-wing organisations and movements — including Standing Together
— are intervening in the mass demonstrations to raise these issues,
each with their own style, strategy and theory of change.

Standing Together activists in major cities have been marching in
“purple contingents”, handing out bilingual signs in Hebrew and
Arabic, and chanting
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Our main message is that a policy of perpetual war, escalation and
occupation is not only depraved and inhumane, but also dangerous and
unviable. As a Jewish Israeli, the actions of my government deeply
undermine my interests, rather than serve them.

And it is not only Netanyahu’s far-right government but the entire
Israeli political establishment that is united around policies that
reject the very basic realities of the land on which we live: there
are millions of Palestinians in this country, and none of them are
going anywhere; and there are millions of Jews in this country, and
none of them are going anywhere.

The only hope for safety and security lies in an Israeli-Palestinian
peace agreement that ends the Occupation, allows Palestinian people
their right to national self-determination in an independent state,
and respects the rights of both peoples to live in freedom, justice
and independence.

This is why Standing Together, as a movement that operates inside
Israeli society to change the political climate, shift peoples’
attitudes, and persuade and convince our communities, refrains from
moral lecturing. Rather, we seek to politicise people around our
shared mutual interests.

For example, is a new war of aggression against Lebanon and Iran,
which military experts estimate could lead to thousands of Israeli
deaths, in our own interest?

Do we as a society benefit from the enormous military expenditure
needed to maintain not only a large standing army, but also the
settlement project in the West Bank, when this eats up the budgets for
education, public transportation and healthcare?

What is more important for our daily lives: that a far-right settler
organisation is allowed to drive Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah out of
their homes to settle there or that we are able to afford our own
homes?

And is it worth dying for the messianic fantasies of fundamentalist
politicians from the parties of “Jewish Power” and “Religious
Zionism” currently in coalition with Netanyahu?

When difficult political issues are posed as questions of interests,
and not as abstract moralities, it is easier to get people to discuss
and, sometimes, reconsider.

PRIOR TO THE RECENT PROTESTS IT SEEMED NETANYAHU WAS SURGING IN POLLS.
COULD THESE LATEST MOBILISATIONS MARK A TURNING POINT IN TERMS OF THE
WAR AND ISRAEL POLITICS OR IS IT TOO EARLY TO TELL?

Netanyahu’s popularity has fallen since October 7. A solid majority
(72%) think Netanyahu should resign
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say immediately, 28% say at the end of the war).

While his current coalition has a small minority, with 64 out of 120
seats in the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament), all serious polls since
the start of the war show his Likud Party and coalition allies winning
a combined 42‒54 seats in a future election — meaning a minority
unable to form a government.

This political reality has shaped the course of the war. Netanyahu
knows that a hostage deal means the end of the war, and that the end
of the war means his far-right allies will leave his coalition,
thereby forcing early elections that he is expected to lose.

For him, it is not only a matter of political survival but personal
survival. Netanyahu is facing trial over several charges of
corruption. If he is forced to leave the Prime Minister's office, the
trial will resume with haste, and he might find himself in jail.

This is why Netanyahu is gambling on buying time by not moving towards
a deal, while maintaining a facade that he is still negotiating.

He is hoping that a [Donald] Trump victory in the [United States]
November elections will create favourable conditions for him. Or,
sadly, hoping for the death of the remaining hostages, whether as a
result of Hamas executions or Israeli army attacks.

These internal political dynamics are impacting on how the war unfolds
and affecting people throughout the Middle East.

Standing Together is a small political movement of only a few thousand
members, including both Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel. Yet
we are determined to play a part in shifting the balance of forces in
a way that hastens the end of the war.

_[First published in Spanish at Aporrea
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by Green Left.]_

* Ceasefire
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* Hostages
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* Hamas
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* Israel-Gaza War
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* Israel
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* Gaza
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* West Bank
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* Palestine
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* IDF
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* Occupied Territories
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* war crimes
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* Benjamin Netanyahu
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* Israeli military
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* Biden Administration
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* U.S.-Israel military aid
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* Israeli peace movement
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* Israeli left
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* Standing Together
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