image source, Getty Images
Political divisions in Israel have come to the fore again. After putting aside differences for a while due to a sense of shock and national unity following the attacks launched by Hamas on October 7, thousands of demonstrators returned six months later to the streets of Israel.
The war has strengthened their determination to oust Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has served the longest term in power.
In Jerusalem, police used foul water – a foul-smelling substance released from water cannons – to disperse protesters who blocked Begin Street, the main highway between the city’s north and south.
Slogans calling for Netanyahu’s resignation and early elections were replaced by newer slogans calling for an immediate agreement to release about 130 Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza. An unknown number of them are presumed dead.
The greatest fear among their families and friends, as well as among the protesters, is that many of them will inevitably die the longer the war continues without an agreement being reached.
On the evening of Sunday, March 31, 2024, while thousands were gathering in the streets surrounding the Israeli Parliament, Katia Amorza – who has a son serving in the Israeli army in Gaza – used a loudspeaker and said: “Since eight in the morning I have been here, and I want to say “I told Netanyahu that I would be happy to buy him a one-way ticket, first class, so he can leave here and never come back again.”
image source, Oren Rosenfeld
Protester Katya called on Netanyahu to step down outside the Knesset building
She added: “I also ask him to take with him all these people who he placed in the government and chose them one by one from among the worst people in our society.”
As the demonstrators gathered in the street, Rabbi Yehuda Glick crossed the path in front of Katya using her megaphone. It was Glick who performed the Jewish prayer in the area that the Israelis call the “Temple Mount,” at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Glick said that the demonstrators forgot that their real enemy is Hamas, not Prime Minister Netanyahu.
He added: “I think he is very popular and that is what bothers these people. I think these people are not willing to tolerate the fact that they have been demonstrating against him for a long time and that he is still in power.”
He continued: “I call on them to come and demonstrate, to speak loudly and clearly about what they feel, but to be careful not to cross the very thin line between democracy and chaos.”
image source, Oren Rosenfield
Rabbi Glick told the BBC that Netanyahu retains sufficient support among Israelis
Protesters and critics of Netanyahu in countries that support Israel believe that enemies of democracy already exist in his government, a coalition that relies on the support of ultra-nationalist Jewish parties.
Among them is the Religious Zionist Party, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. One member of parliament, Ohad Tal, said it was “naive” to believe that anything other than more military pressure on Hamas could free the hostages.
He added: “Do not think that Hamas will return the hostages so easily in the deal, release everyone and then allow us to kill all the terrorists that we will release in such a deal. It is not that simple.”
Netanyahu used to say that he was the only one who could maintain his country’s security, but the problem was that many Israelis believed him.
He said that he could manage the Palestinians and settle the Jews in the occupied territories on which they wanted to establish their state, without making the necessary concessions and sacrifices to achieve a peace agreement.
But all that changed on October 7 last year when Hamas stormed the border fence.
image source, EPA-EFE-REX/Shutterstock
Many Israelis hold him responsible for the security lapses that allowed Hamas to attack Israel with such devastating effect.
Unlike his security commanders, who quickly issued statements admitting they had made mistakes, Netanyahu never admitted any responsibility.
This angers thousands of people who closed the streets in Jerusalem last Sunday evening.
Israelis would have to be at least 40 years old to remember a time when Benjamin Netanyahu was not a dominant figure in their country’s politics.
After emerging as an eloquent spokesman for Israel at the United Nations, his first term as prime minister came after he narrowly won in 1996, adopting a platform opposed to the Oslo peace process.
Like the current American plan for peace in the Middle East, the Oslo Accords were built around the idea that allowing the Palestinians to establish an independent state alongside Israel was the only hope for ending a century of conflict between Arabs and Jews over control of the land, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
image source, Getty Images
Netanyahu has always opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state. He disdainfully dismissed the American strategy of supporting Palestinian independence as part of a “grand bargain” to reshape the Middle East.
His critics here say that his strong rejection of President Joe Biden’s plans to govern in Gaza after the war is a tool to ensure continued support for the extreme right wing in Israel.
One of the protesters outside the Knesset was David Agmon, a retired brigadier general in the Israeli army, who ran the Prime Minister’s Office when Netanyahu was first elected.
He told the BBC: “I was the first director of Netanyahu’s office in 1996, so I know him well, and after three months I decided to leave. Because I realized how much danger he poses to Israel.”
He added: “He does not know how to make decisions. He is always afraid. The only thing he knows is to speak. And of course I saw how much he depends on his wife. After three months, I told him: Bibi, you do not need helpers, you need an alternative, and I left.”
image source, Oren Rosenfeld
David Agmon described Netanyahu as a “danger to Israel”
While demonstrators were still in the streets, Netanyahu ruled out early elections and reiterated his determination to launch a new offensive against Hamas in Rafah.
His record as a political survivor means that even if his opponents get their wish for a snap election, his dwindling band of loyal followers believe he might win.
Israelis are not divided on ending Hamas, and this war goal enjoys overwhelming support. But the way the war is being handled, and the failure to rescue or free all the hostages, is putting Netanyahu under pressure that threatens the end of his career.