Every week, large crowds gather in cities across to call on the government to bring home hostages held in .
The hostages’ fate has been on many Israeli minds since the -led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people. Recent opinion polls show that nearly 70% of Israelis want a deal to bring home the remaining 59 hostages of the around 250 taken during the attacks, 24 of whom are believed to be alive.
Now, a growing number of Air Force pilots, former Secret Service agents, intelligence unit members and many other army reservists and retirees are publicly expressing growing discontent with the government’s failure to secure the hostages’ release. Their message: First the hostages, then Hamas, even if war is necessary later. Israel, the United States, Germany and several other countries designate Hamas a terrorist organization.
A group of 250 former has backed a recent initiative by Air Force pilots and air crews.
“We will join the call to act immediately to reach an agreement to return all 59 hostages home, without delay, even at the cost of ,” their open letter read.
The letter concluded with a message to Prime Minister directly: “The sanctity of life, Mr. Prime Minister, takes precedence over God of vengeance,” in reference to a psalm (psalm 94).
Israeli government ‘going in the wrong direction’
Israel on March 18 after negotiations over the second phase of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas broke down. The first phase saw the release of nearly 40 Israeli and foreign national hostages from Gaza, and Israel freed nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange.
For Haim Tomer, a former Mossad head of division with decades of service, the government’s decision to break the ceasefire and renew its military offensive was one of the reasons for speaking out.
“People started to ask themselves how long we go with this war before we get our hostages back,” Tomer told DW. “The idea of our public letters is to tell the Israeli public that the government is going in the wrong direction [and] that this direction will not bring back the hostages. Hostages can die every day.”
Netanyahu accused of political tactics
The Air Force officers, reservists and retired staff who started the campaign of open letters accused of putting the lives of the hostages and the lives of soldiers at risk for his own political gain.
“At this time, the war serves mainly political and personal interests and not security interests,” they wrote. “Continuing the war does not contribute to any of its declared goals and will lead to the deaths of the hostages, of and innocent civilians and to the exhaustion of reservists.”
Avner Yarkoni, who has served as a fighter pilot for 35 years and as head of Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority, said that while the war was initially justified, many now feel it is going nowhere.
“We eventually figured out that the prime minister would like to stretch this war on forever,” Yarkoni told DW. “Once we stop the war, there will be two issues: Elections and a commission of inquiry. And then he won’t be prime minister anymore.”
Critics have also pointed out that Netanyahu’s decision to return to war and not negotiate the second phase of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas was driven by his need to keep his far-right coalition partners in government. They threatened to quit the government if the war ended, a move that could bring down Netanyahu’s coalition.
“I served 40 years for the state of Israel … and I can say while looking in the eyes of the prime minister or any minister: ‘You are wrong in regard to the ways to secure the future of Israel,’” Tomer, the former Mossad officer, said.
Many argue that only negotiations have led to the release of large numbers of hostages throughout the war. They say the government’s strategy of “maximum military pressure” is endangering the lives of hostages.
“Because we are pilots…. fighting Hamas while they are holding hostages is like fighting with your hands cuffed,” Yarkoni, the former fighter pilot, told DW.
What does this discontent mean for Israel’s military?
The simmering discontent among reservists, many of whom have been called up several times and served hundreds of days, is a potential problem for the military. Israel has a relatively small standing military and relies on its much larger reserve corps in times of war. While there are reports that many reservists don’t report for duty for various reasons, the exact figures are not known.
Netanyahu immediately dismissed the Air Force letter, saying it was written by a “marginal and extremist group that is once again trying to break Israeli society from within.” He also ordered the dismissal of the reservists who had signed the letter, but only a few were on active duty.
The letters do not call for refusal to serve, as some Air Force reservists did during the height of the mass protests against the government’s judicial overhaul plans in July 2023.
The dismissal prompted even more Israelis, including reservists and retired members of various military units, the medical corps, artists and other professionals, to express solidarity with the Air Force members. They also called on the government to change course and openly expressed their distrust of Netanyahu.
Is there a genuine desire for peace?
Some, however, question the petitions and their focus on the “hostages first, war later strategy.” Dahlia Scheindlin, a journalist for the daily newspaper Haaretz, wrote recently that only a few letters mention amid the horrific humanitarian situation in Gaza.
She wrote that while bringing the hostages home is the most “unifying cause in Israel today,” without a “permanent end to the war, followed by a political framework for peace — imperfect as it will be — how will the campaign for hostage release protect future victims from the ‘cycle of horror’?’”
On a recent Saturday night protest in West Jerusalem, a small group of anti-war demonstrators marched through the city center alongside others calling for the release of the hostages and those demonstrating against the government.
“We have always been at the back of all the demonstrations over the past year, a small group of people protesting for an end to the war. We want the hostages home, but we also want the war to end, for all,” Hila, who declined to give her last name, told DW.
Yarkoni acknowledged the issue but said many Israelis, himself included, are still traumatized by the October 7 attacks: “We haven’t gotten over it yet because stories and videos of that day keep [appearing]. It was a horrible massacre.”
However, he added, while in this stage of the war “maybe we are hurting more civilians than terrorists,” he hopes that the open letters create a momentum to bring the hostages home.
Edited by: Davis VanOpdorp
The post Israel: Discontent grows over government approach to Gaza appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
