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THE WORLD IS TURNING AGAINST ISRAEL’S WAR IN GAZA – AND MANY ISRAELIS DON’T
UNDERSTAND WHY

Ivana Kottasová and Adi Koplewitz, CNN
November 7, 2023 at 6:36 AM


Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle
East newsletter, a three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest
stories. Sign up here.

Yoav Peled says he has started wondering if the world has gone mad.

Sitting outside the Kirya, Israel’s equivalent of the Pentagon in Tel Aviv,
Peled was cutting pieces of yellow ribbon off a large wheel last Thursday,
handing them out to strangers passing by. The bands symbolize solidarity with
the roughly 240 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

It is this solidarity – and specifically whether it still extends beyond
Israel’s borders – that Peled was questioning.


Yoav Peled, who was handing out yellow ribbons to people passing by a gathering
spot for supporters of the hostages in Tel Aviv, is pictured on November 2. -
Ivana Kottasova/CNN

“I used to consider myself part of the extreme liberals, whatever they call
themselves. But when I see demonstrations with cries in support of Hamas and
stuff like that, I doubt that the world understands complexity … and when they
can’t understand complexity, they see this as a one-sided thing and their sense
of justice is very simple. But it’s not simple,” he told CNN. “I think the
governments understand this, but the people… I don’t know.”

As global leaders continue to pile pressure on Israel over the mounting civilian
death toll from its bombardment of Gaza and huge crowds gather for
pro-Palestinian protests in cities like London, Washington DC, Berlin, Paris,
Amman and Cairo – almost all in support of civilians in Gaza, rather than Hamas
– many Israelis are getting frustrated with what they see as unequal treatment.

It’s a feeling that cuts across the deep divisions within Israeli society: the
world does not understand us.


Families of kidnapped hostages join thousands of supporters in a protest to
demand that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secure the release of
Israeli hostages, outside HaKirya on November 4, 2023 in Tel Aviv, Israel. - Dan
Kitwood/Getty Images

“The world loves us as victims. I’m sorry to say that, but yes, they love
Israel, they sympathize with the Jews when we are victims, when they kill us.
But when we do things to protect ourselves? No,” Sigal Itzahak told CNN.

A teacher at a religious school for girls, Itzahak brought some of her students
to the little plaza outside the Kirya where Peled was handing out the ribbons.
The spot has become a gathering place for the victims’ families, their
supporters, and well-wishers after the October 7 terror attacks.

Missing people posters and photographs of the victims are displayed on the wall
of the government complex, a seemingly never-ending row of smiling faces of men,
women, children, babies, soldiers, and, at times, entire families.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said more than 1,400 people were murdered in the
attacks. About 240 people were kidnapped and are believed to be held by Hamas
and others in Gaza. Four women – two Americans and two Israelis – have been
released, while one soldier has been rescued by the IDF.

“I think any country in the world that would find itself in our situation would
probably do much, much more and no one would say anything. It’s just the Jews.
Because the Jews are not entitled to live in a country in peace. That’s what we
want. And I’m sorry, but no one understands it,” Itzahak said.


ANGER AGAINST NETANYAHU

There is a lot of love outside the Kirya complex. Some people come here to pray,
hug each other, and spend time together. The group of students brought by
Itzahak came with dozens of freshly baked loaves of bread, a powerful and deeply
meaningful gesture in Judaism.

But there’s also a lot of anger and frustration. Most of it is aimed squarely at
Israel’s embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Benny Zweig, a retired professor of sociology and political science, told CNN he
has been coming to the square to protest against Netanyahu since day one of the
war.

“Two shifts a day. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.,” he said,
holding a sign depicting Netanyahu and other members of his government in jail.

Like many in Israel, Zweig is placing some of the blame for the brutal October 7
Hamas attack on Netanyahu. “We should have taken down Hamas a long time ago, but
instead Netanyahu started allowing Qatari money in,” he said referencing
Netanyahu’s decision to allow Qatar to transfer millions of dollars to Hamas-run
Gaza in 2018.

“You’re not going to change a terror organization’s agenda with money. Now, the
price of taking them down will be much higher,” Zweig said.


Benny Zweig says he has been protesting against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu for years. - Ivana Kottasova/CNN

It’s been a month since the attack and Ruby Chen still has had no news about his
son, Itay. The second of three sons, a former Boy Scout, and a fierce basketball
player, Itay was kidnapped on October 7.

Like many of the families with loved ones held in Gaza, Chen is pushing for the
Israeli government to do whatever it can to bring the hostages home. “It should
not be the second co-objective of the war. It must be the first, the second, and
the third objective to bring the hostages back,” he told CNN.

On Saturday night, Chen and hundreds of other family members of the hostages
gathered outside the Kirya to demand “greater actions by the government.”

They pitched up tents in the plaza, vowing to stay until their children,
siblings, parents, grandparents, and other loved ones were released.

The organizers of the event said it was not “an anti-government protest,” but
their frustration was clear.

In the early days after the Hamas terror attack, many of the hostages’ families
were reluctant to criticize the government of Netanyahu. That has now changed.

A strongly worded statement issued by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum
last week spoke of the “enormous anger” that the government was not speaking to
them about the operation in Gaza.

A tense meeting between Netanyahu and some of the families, led to further
heated exchanges, including a demand that the government should consider
an “everyone for every one deal” floated by Hamas in a statement the terror
group issued last week.

Such a deal would involve exchanging the hostages for Palestinians currently
held in Israeli prisons – some 6,630 people, according to estimates by the
Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.

It would be highly controversial because many of the prisoners have been either
convicted or held on charges or suspicions related to acts of terrorism.

The IDF dismissed the Hamas offer as a tool of “psychological terror aimed to
manipulate Israeli civilians.”

In October 2011, Israel agreed to exchange Gilad Shalit, an IDF soldier
kidnapped by Hamas in 2006, for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including
convicted terrorists who went on to carry out further attacks. Yahya Sinwar, who
heads Hamas in Gaza and was identified by the IDF as one of the masterminds
behind the October 7 attacks, was one of those released in the deal.

Chen said he still believes the government should do everything it can to secure
the release of the hostages. “I’m not in a position to understand the dynamics.
At the end of the day, we look at the end results … I still don’t know if my kid
is dead or alive. That’s the bottom line,” he added.

The families have said that no ceasefire should be agreed until all the hostages
are released.

And the country is behind them. Anger about the government’s response to the
crisis is mounting even among some of the people who have previously supported
Netanyahu and his government.

“I voted for someone else, but I think he has done wonderful things for Israel,
he was a soldier, he was a courageous soldier, but he has been the prime
minister for 15 years, so he is to blame. And he has to go. I think everybody
knows this and he knows it as well,” Itzahak said.

Support for Netanyahu and his government has collapsed, with the latest polling
conducted by Tel Aviv University for Israeli media showing the vast majority of
Israelis want Netanyahu to quit. 

But while the government’s approval ratings are nose-diving, the decision to
launch a war on Hamas has firm backing from most Jewish Israelis – despite the
strong international criticism.

And while most of Israel’s Arab and Palestinian citizens, and a small minority
of Jews, don’t approve of the war, a wide-ranging crackdown on freedom of speech
means that any form of dissent against the war is risky.

Dozens of Palestinian residents and citizens of Israel have been arrested in
Israel for expressing solidarity with Gaza and its civilian population. Israel
Police said that as of October 25, it had arrested 110 people since the start of
the war for allegedly inciting violence and terrorism, mostly on social media.
Of these arrests, 17 resulted in indictments.

Public displays of solidarity with Gaza or criticism of Israel’s military
response are few and far between. Demonstrations against the war have been
banned and more than 100 people have been arrested for posting messages of
solidarity with Gaza on social media.


‘VERY FINE LINE’ IN CRITICIZING ISRAEL

“I am 22 and I’ve been to four funerals in the past four weeks, and two more
funerals in the past year, when two of my friends were killed in terror
attacks,” Yonatan Rapaport told CNN at Zion Square in Jerusalem city center on
Thursday.

A musician who recently finished his compulsory military service with the
Israeli Navy – including stints patrolling around the Gaza Strip – Rapaport said
he, too, was getting frustrated with the world’s reaction to the events in Gaza.


Yonatan Rapaport, center, plays guitar at a gathering of young Israelis in
Jerusalem on Thursday, November 2. - Ivana Kottasova/CNN

“When people ask, ‘why are you taking Gaza?’ what I don’t understand is – do we
not have the right to protect our civilians and soldiers? What is a
proportionate response? We try not to kill civilians,” he said.

“This conflict (between Israel and the Palestinians) isn’t black and white, but
this war (with Hamas) is,” he added. “There’s very valid criticism of the
Israeli government and Israel, but there’s a very fine line that has been
crossed in a lot of these conversations between criticizing Israel and hating
Jews. You can criticize Israel occupying the West Bank or Gaza, but you can’t
say oh, so because of that it’s okay to kill 1,400 civilians.”

Rapaport said he had criticized Netanyahu’s government before the war, opposing
his plans to reform the judicial system – a major fault line that has split the
country.

“After the war, I think the whole government should go. But now… we are at war.
I don’t trust Netanyahu as a person, but I have to trust him as a leader,”
he said.

Later that night, Rapaport joined a large circle of musicians and mostly young
people sitting at Zion Square. They were playing guitars and singing classic
Israeli hits.

The songs ranged from sad to hopeful. Among them, “Lu Yehi,” a song inspired by
the Beatles’ song “Let It Be.” The ballad was written by Naomi Shemer in 1973,
during the first days of the Yom Kippur War, and has since become synonymous
with that war and hope for Israel’s victory.

On Thursday night, the song’s words rang out in Zion Square, almost exactly 50
years since its debut and with Israel once more at war.

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