Netanyahu‘s right-wing coalition with a clutch of nationalist-religious and ultra-Orthodox parties would lose any election held now, with 53 seats in the 120-seat parliament, against 58 for the main opposition bloc, according to the poll.
Archiv: the Israeli People
WATCH: Fmr. Saudi official: There are no heroes in Israel-Hamas war, only victims
(October 20, 2023)
Former head of Saudi Arabia‘s General Intelligence Presidency and former Saudi ambassador to the US Turki al-Faisal condemned both Hamas and Israel in a speech on Tuesday, saying Hamas committed acts forbidden by Islam and Israel was ‚indiscriminately‘ bombing civilians in Gaza.
„There are no heroes in this conflict, only victims,“ said Faisal in a speech at a conference hosted by Rice University‘s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
We’re Beginning to Learn How the War on Terror Shaped a Generation
(Devember 21, 2023)
That might have been why, when President Biden and Israeli officials said that Oct. 7 was Israel’s Sept. 11, intending the comparison as a rallying cry for self-defense, their words seemed to many instead a cruel provocation of trauma. Were they kidding? The response to Sept. 11 was catastrophic for the Arab and Muslim world and, eventually, terrible for the United States. A similar response to Oct. 7 would be terrible for the Israeli people, and a total reinvention of hell for the Palestinians. We know this because we are Americans. In the Israelis, we saw our own leaders: shocked victims for a day, destroyers of worlds every day thereafter.
Tumultuous weekend for Israelis leaves Netanyahu with fewer options than ever
Unlike Palestinians in Gaza, Israelis can rise up to challenge their leadership. Late-night skirmishes between protesters and the authorities Sunday on Tel Aviv’s usually hyper-busy eight-lane Ayalon Highway were a manifestation of that.
As flames and dense smoke engulfed wooden pallets and tires on the roads, I watched a young man, blue paint spray in hand, scrawl his message to the prime minister in foot-high letters on the roadside wall: “Hostages or revolt.”
Masses around Israel demand Gaza deal as nation recoils from murder of 6 hostages
Labor federation chief Arnon Bar-David says hostage release stuck due to ‘political considerations,’ most of labor market will strike as of 6 a.m. Monday
Protest In Tel Aviv Live | Israelis Protest In Tel Aviv City After Hostages Dead | Israel Hamas War
Protesters gather in Tel Aviv after Israel‘s army announced it recovered the bodies of 6 hostages in Gaza.
Israelis protest against Netanyahu after 6 hostages found dead in Gaza
Israel on Sunday said it had recovered the bodies of six hostages in Gaza. Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages protested Sunday outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s office in Jerusalem. Eylon Keshet, a family member of a Hamas-held hostage, says ‘it’s been a nightmare every day,’ adding that Netanyahu ‘should be held responsible’ and Hamas should be pressured into a ceasefire.
Israelis erupt in protest to demand a cease-fire after 6 more hostages die in Gaza
Grieving and angry Israelis surged into the streets Sunday night after six more hostages were found dead in Gaza, chanting “Now! Now!” as they demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach a cease-fire with Hamas to bring the remaining captives home.
Israel’s largest trade union, the Histadrut, pressured the government by calling a general strike for Monday, the first since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that started the war.
‘Israelis are frustrated, but do they want to stop the war? Not exactly’
But now Netanyahu’s support is starting to bounce back, right?
Yes, we’re seeing trust in the government recover pretty consistently across all surveys — starting in April [when Israel assassinated an Iranian Quds Force commander in Damascus, and Iran responded with a missile attack]. A series of polls in recent weeks have shown that Likud would win the most votes if elections were held today, and Netanyahu himself is once again coming out on top in head-to-head surveys against opposition leader Benny Gantz. He’s not in a stellar position, but he is more or less where he was before the war.
This recovery is linked to the new threats from Iran and Hezbollah following Israel’s assassinations in Beirut and Tehran.
Israeli society’s dehumanization of Palestinians is now absolute
(August 23, 2024)
In the past, Israel’s moral debate about its military actions may have been narrow and hypocritical, but at least it existed. Not this time.
Shin Bet chief warns prime minister in July 2023 that war is incoming
The Prime Minister‘s Office denied these allegations, saying: „Prime Minister Netanyahu did not receive a warning about the war in Gaza not on the date in question not before October 7. On the contrary, all security officials made it clear that Hamas is deterred and strives to reach an agreement. Also, a few days before October 7, the Shin Bet assessed that Gaza‘s stability is expected to be maintained for a long time.“
The Shin Bet did not comment on the Prime Minister Office‘s response.
Israel, opposition leader accuses Netanyahu: He knew about the threat of October 7 and did nothing
In the weeks that followed, Lapid continued, he viewed classified intelligence provided to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that indicated that deterrence had indeed eroded. He also viewed highly classified material made available to him as a former prime minister. On September 18, 2023, there was “a further warning. For me, what was written there was unmistakable: Israel’s deterrence has eroded dramatically; our enemies think they have a rare opportunity to harm us,” Lapid said.
Netanyahu was warned a year before Oct. 7 that Hamas saw its ‘moment had arrived,’ Lapid tells civilian inquiry
“During the months leading up to the disaster, the prime minister and cabinet ministers received a series of serious, unprecedented warnings. From the middle of 2023 there were more and more voices within the terrorist organizations that said that the moment they had been waiting for had arrived,” he says.
Lapid recalls asking Bar “if these warnings were also brought before the prime minister and cabinet ministers, and the answer was: ‘Of course they were.‘”
Israeli opposition leader Lapid says Netanyahu was warned about Hamas
„I want to refute the statement that is made time and time again by the current government that, somehow, the political echelon was not aware that Hamas was not deterred,“ Lapid told the paper.
„It was indeed informed. I was informed,“ he said, adding that the intelligence material he saw „was of course, also seen by the prime minister and ministers of the Cabinet.“
„It was clear what they [Hamas] wanted,“ he said.
Netanyahu Let Hamas’ Oct 7 Attack Happen? Bombshell Claim By Arch Rival Amid 10 Months Of Gaza War
In a heated exchange, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Yair Lapid clashed over the handling of Hamas’ October 7 attack. Lapid accused Netanyahu of ignoring critical warnings that eroded national security, claiming the PM failed to act despite knowing a violent eruption was looming. In response, Netanyahu fired back, accusing Lapid of ‚spreading lies.‘ Watch for more.
Yitzhak Rabin – The Last Speech (English Subtitles)
The last speech of prime minister and minister of defense Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by right-wing Israeli radical on November 4th 1995 in Tel Aviv.
Gaza in the Minds of Israelis
(20.02.2024)
Since 2005, as Dotan Halevy, one of the anthology’s editors puts it in the introduction, a generation has grown up in Gaza “that knows nothing of Israel” (and in Israel, a generation that “knows nothing of Gaza”). Unfortunately, that generation of Israelis is now getting to know Gaza too well. During the Oct. 7 assault, hundreds or even thousands of the Strip’s civilians streamed into southern Israel. They plundered and, alongside the Hamas fighters, murdered and raped—while their faces shone with profound joy.
Families Of Hostages Still Captive In Gaza Approach World Court Against Hamas
Haim Rubinstein from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the campaign group will file a case against Hamas leaders at the ICC.
„We are the families of the hostages who have gone through and are still going through this terrible hell,“ Rubinstein said in a televised briefing from Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv.
„We will file charges against Hamas members and their collaborators and ensure that they pay the heaviest price for the crimes against humanity that they continue to commit.“
Public Figures Sign onto Letter Opposing Dehumanization of Gazans, Palestinians, Muslims, Israelis and Jews
The signatories include authors David Grossman and Iris Leal; MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash), philosophers Slavoj Žižek, Eva Illouz, Axel Honneth and Kohei Saito; former Members of Knesset Dov Khenin (Hadash) and Mossi Raz (Meretz); human rights activists Ruchama Marton, Att. Michael Sfard, Ziv Stahl, Avi Dabush, B’tselem Director Yuli Novak and Breaking the Silence Director Avner Gvaryahu; singer Achinoam Nini, actor and director Itay Tiran, and actors Esti Zakheim, Ala Dakka, Yossi Zabari and Menashe Noy; filmmakers Ari Folman, Avi Mograbi, Nadav Lapid, Avigail Sperber and the Heiman brothers; lawyer Daniel Hacklai; choreographer Ohad Naharin, director and choreographer Avshalom Pollak; scholar and journalist Tomer Persico, and many others.
Yitzhak Rabin – The Last Speech (English Subtitles)
The last speech of prime minister and minister of defense Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by right-wing Israeli radical on November 4th 1995 in Tel Aviv.
Yitzhak Rabin – The Last Speech (English Subtitles)
The last speech of prime minister and minister of defense Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by right-wing Israeli radical on November 4th 1995 in Tel Aviv.
The War in Gaza Is Splintering the Democratic Party
(November 17, 2023)
Already, there are signs that the party is fracturing over Israel. According to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, about three-quarters of Democrats want a cease-fire, but few in the Democratic establishment share their views. Last week, in a rare gesture of defiance, more than 100 congressional staffers walked out to demand that their bosses back a cease-fire. More than 500 alumni of Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign and Democratic Party staff members have signed a letter imploring Biden to call for a cease-fire, saying, “If you fail to act swiftly, your legacy will be complicity in the face of genocide.”
Despite PM Netanyahu‘s vast personal & political efforts to clear his name and blame the army and its commanders for the disaster of October 7 only 19% of Israelis believe he should remain in post. 72% believe he should resign– 41% after the war, 31% immediately.
(@channel13il)
«Netanyahus Sohn sitzt den Krieg am Strand in Florida aus»
(13. November 2023)
Der älteste Sohn von Benjamin Netanyahu betreibt in den sozialen Medien gezielte Desinformation.
Offiziell übt er keinen Beruf aus – laut israelischen Medien soll er aber seit Jahren die Social-Media-Strategie des Vaters lenken.
Nur ein Bruchteil der Posts enthält tatsächliche Informationen.
Israelis have noticed this image from Gal Eizenkot‘s grave: One father standing over the coffin of his son killed in battle; another father who got underlings to illegally grant his toxic troll son a diplomatic passport when he returned from 9 sybaritic months on Miami Beach.
A Majority of Voters Support Calls for a Cease-Fire in Gaza
(November 21, 2023)
More Democratic voters are expressing dissatisfaction with Biden’s handling of the larger Israeli-Palestinian conflict, young people are becoming more sympathetic to the Palestinians and older voters are giving more thought to people on both sides.
Watch: Israeli children sing, “We will annihilate everyone” in Gaza
The sweet faces of children make an incongruous accompaniment to the genocidal lyrics of the so-called Friendship Song 2023.
“Autumn night falls over the beach of Gaza, planes are bombing, destruction, destruction,” the children sing in angelic voices. “Within a year we will annihilate everyone, and then we will return to plow our fields.”
The lyrics were translated for The Electronic Intifada by independent writer and filmmaker David Sheen and you can watch a subtitled video of the song above, or in the tweet below:
Israeli children sing to “annihilate everyone” in Gaza in genocidal war anthem This Nazi-esque ethnosupremacist propaganda was published by Israel’s national broadcaster, @kann_news, and subsequently deleted
A Bar Ilan University poll of Jewish Israelis finds that less than ?% believe PM Netanyahu is a reliable source of information about the war with Hamas. Among right-wing voters, ?.?% trust him. (Don‘t even ask about Muslims, Druze and Christians.)
The Letter that Outraged Us: The Physicians‘ Letter Calling for the Destruction of Shifa Hospital in Gaza
(06.11.2023)
Dozens of Israeli physicians signed a letter urging the military to destroy the “hornet nests and the hospitals shielding them” in the Gaza Strip. The letter indicates that its authors consider the civilians in these hospitals to be legitimate targets – as if they can choose to leave; as if there’s a safe way out and another hospital able to take them in.
Following their appeal, we drafted the response letter below, undersigned by physicians and health professionals working in hospitals and in the community: (…)
No person with a conscience can remain indifferent to the massacre of civilians, including men, women, and children, carried out on October 7, 2023, by Hamas militants – the scale of which has yet to be fully revealed. However, our deep outrage must not be transformed into a carte blanche for killing civilians in the Gaza Strip, where residents are also counting the wounded and dead – certainly not when physicians are the ones demanding this. Fortunately, the letter’s signatories represent only a small minority of the health community, while the vast majority remains busy saving lives – no matter whose lives it may be.
“I’ll return to Be’eri only when the last Palestinian is annihilated. I don’t care if it’s children, elderly, people on crutches that came to pillage, I don’t care. At this moment I have mercy for no 1… it’s just us, just us. That’s what I have to say. I want my cry to be heard”
The Israel we knew died on October 7. The new nation will be scarred for generations
What it will come to look like is something we cannot imagine yet. But of one thing there is no doubt: the trauma of the Black Shabbat will leave the deepest of scars in the soul of this new nation. For decades, it will shape Israel’s character, its politics, the relations between its people, between its people and its enemies, between its people and the antisemites and Israel-hating Nazis around the world.
Yitzhak Rabin – The Last Speech (English Subtitles)
The last speech of prime minister and minister of defense Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by right-wing Israeli radical on November 4th 1995 in Tel Aviv.
@channel13il poll „What should Netanyahu do?“ 47%: resign after the war 29%: resign immediately 18%: remain in his position
Israeli politician who lost friends in Hamas attack calls for an end to the Gaza bombings
„I have to condemn totally, with no reservation, of course, the terrible slaughter that Hamas carried out against innocent civilians in the south of Israel. There was no justification for such a massacre,“ Cassif, a Jewish member of the Arab-Jewish opposition coalition Hadash-Ta‘al, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.
„Having been saying that, there‘s no justification for the carnage that Israel carries out at the moment. Because those who are harmed, assaulted and killed [are] mostly innocent civilians.“
Israelis and Palestinians Should Live in Security and Peace, MK Cassif
“I have to condemn totally, with no reservation the terrible slaughter that Hamas carried out against innocent civilians in the south of Israel. There was no justification for such a massacre,” MK Ofer Cassif, (Hadash) told “As It Happens” host Nil Köksal broadcasted by the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). “Having been saying that, there’s no justification for the carnage that Israel carries out at the moment. Because those who are harmed, assaulted and killed [are] mostly innocent civilians.” The following is an excerpt from his conversation with Köksal.
To: International institutes, ambassadors to Israel, world leaders and humanitarian organizations Humanitarian Corridor to Gaza – Access to the Hostages now!
At this moment international humanitarian organizations are in Gaza. We want to enable them quick access to hostages taken from Israel to Gaza, especially children, women, the elderly and families. This is possible only for a short window of opportunity – before a possible IDF ground excursion into Gaza. We can‘t afford to lose any time!
(…)
Every one of you that joins this initiative is important – add your name and continue sharing.
Hamas’ Attack on Israelis Strengthens, Not Weakens, Israel’s Right Wing Political Elite
Hamas, for Zionist leaders, is controlled opposition. It’s not controlled like a puppet, but funded and kept in power by Israel because its aims, like those of the corrupt Palestine Authority, are to dominate and control ordinary Palestinians in the name of supposedly standing up against Israel while not doing anything that can actually defeat Israel.
The latter would require waging the class war against the billionaire ruling class of Israel. Hamas and Israel’s leaders need each other; each helps the other keep a grip on its own people, providing the other a perfect enemy with which to frighten its “own people” into obedience.
מוציא את השבת כדי לגלות שרק ב-24 שעות שהייתי מנותק, נהרגו ברצועת עזה 126 ילדים. בשבוע האחרון נהרגו שם 2215 אנשים, מתוכם 724 ילדים ו-458 נשים. תקשיבו לי טוב: לא צריך להיות שמאלן דגול כדי לבקש סטופ. תעצרו רגע. כמו שרצח עידו בבארי הוא פשע, כך רצח אחמד בעזה הוא פשע. חלאס, תעצרו.
Likud Minister Formulates Emergency Regulations to Imprison Citizens Who ‚Harm National Morale‘
Communications Minister Karhi is promoting regulations that would allow him to direct police to arrest civilians, remove them from their homes, or seize their property if he believes they have spread information that could harm national morale or served as the basis for enemy propaganda
Israel at War: Moral Red Lines
As we enter into week two of this horrifying war, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi struggle with the question of if there are moral red lines when responding to absolute evil and if there are, how do we define them. Noting that Israelis are entering this discussion wounded, grieving, enraged, and scared, they acknowledge our need to fight the war fully while grappling with who we want to be not just who we are at this moment.
„There was no air force, no soldiers, we were alone,“ says Hamas massacre survivor
Speaking to this reporter, many share the same feelings: utter astonishment that such an attack could be carried out by Israel’s enemies; a shattered sense of personal security; and intense anger at the government.
“We are fighting for our lives, for our future, and mostly for the future of our children.” Arab-Israeli TV anchor @lucyaharish interrupted rolling coverage of Hamas’s atrocities against Israelis to make this heartrending appeal to the world. Please listen and share.
Awad Darawshe was a Muslim paramedic who was near the site of the music festival massacre. His friends begged him to leave but he insisted on staying to treat the wounded. He was murdered by Hamas and his ambulance was stolen and driven into the Gaza Strip. A hero. May his memory be a blessing.
In Israel, there have been 100,000s demonstrating agaist the gouvernment for months. In Gaza, a mob is cheering as dead bodies of a man and a woman are paraded around the streets. When did they protest against Hamas?
With Israel’s ethos at stake, 13-hour court hearing proves riveting, fateful TV drama
In addition to the precedent of having the entire 15-strong Supreme Court bench convened for the first time in the nation’s history, the extensive, live coverage was itself somewhat historic: TV channels are in the ratings business, and evidently recognized that the sight of a room full of largely drearily dressed middle-aged people discussing complex principles of law, without even the prospect of a definitive conclusion in the near future, would nonetheless prove a more riveting must-watch for a substantial proportion of the Israeli public than the usual non-primetime daily fare of singing, dancing and dating shows, cooking contests and sitcoms.
Don’t leave me to bear this alone
A few weeks ago, I was among the organizers of the March of the Dead in Tel Aviv. 147 coffins signifying all the Arabs killed this year were carried by young Arab men and women. Many Jews marched with us and along with great sadness we had hope that we were not alone. But for the members of the families – the orphans – this is not enough. In many of these murder cases, the victim’s family live next to the murderer who is not charged by the police because there is a lack of evidence or proof. Imagine a situation where a despicable murderer walks free alongside relatives of the murdered. What human society could allow this to occur?
Post-judicial Coup Talk of a Unity Government Is Foolish, Netanyahu Isn‘t Even Interested
Attempting to imagine an escape route which also includes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s acquittal of criminal charges, is a result of the painful realization that the hawkish factions on both sides – even though one can‘t compare the governmental sadism led by Justice Minister Yariv Levin and the most rigid and militant anti-overhaul protesters – ignore the will of the majority and charge onward, almost with lust, to the very dangerous disagreement known as a constitutional crisis.
This hope, however, whether you want to surrender to it or to resist it in disgust, is in no way realistic. For now. According to knowledgeable sources, Netanyahu is simply not interested: not in stopping the judicial overhaul nor in a unity government.
28% of Israelis considering leaving the country amid judicial upheaval — poll
A survey carried out Tuesday in the wake of the government passing the first law in its divisive judicial overhaul package found that nearly one-third of Israelis are considering leaving the country.
The Channel 13 poll found that 28% of respondents were weighing a move abroad, 64% were not, and 8% were unsure.
Protest’s Lesson for Anti-occupation Left: Mobilize Israelis, Not International Community
This has brought them deserved admiration in the small bubble of the Western human-rights industry and helped with much-needed funding, and has done absolutely nothing to change the dismal situation on the ground, which has steadily gotten worse.
The plaudits and platforms abroad have not resulted in any pressure on successive Israeli governments to change their policies. Not one foreign government or major financial body has changed its policies towards Israel as a result.