Unprecedented protest in Tel Aviv to ask the Israeli Government to end the war in Gaza

2024-01-19 15:26:42

Tel Aviv remains the focus of the main protests in Israel. During the night of Thursday, hundreds of people blocked the Ayalon highway to demand the release of 136 Israeli hostages, living and dead, who remain in the Gaza Strip. The intensification of pressure on the Israeli Government has resulted in seven arrestedsome of which were relatives of the captives. At the same time, the Telaviví streets have been the scene of the largest anti-war demonstration after more than a hundred days of offensive, which already has at least 24,400 dead, according to the count of the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian enclave. “Only peace will bring security,” have claimed more than 2.000 personas, mobilized by 30 Israeli civil society groups. Meanwhile, in the spheres of power, the war cabinet minister Gadi Eisenkot has pointed out that the responsibility of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, by the October 7 attack is “clear and sharp.”

“You don’t need to take responsibility, is there“, he stated in an interview with the Israeli television program Uvda. “The prime minister is informed by both the Israeli Army and the Shin Bet [servicios de inteligencia israelíes]and was involved in the construction of the fence [de Gaza] and other implications,” said Eisenkot, who has lost his son and nephew who died in combat in Gaza. The former Army chief of staff has also celebrated that the war cabinet managed to avoid a preemptive strike against Lebanon. “We prevented a very wrong decision; if we had attacked in Lebanon, we would have realized the strategic vision of Yahya Sinwar [líder de Hamás]our presence there prevented the State of Israel from committing a strategic mistake very serious,” he added. In addition, he has once again criticized Netanyahu for his handling of the war in Gaza, alleging that discussions about achieving a complete victory over Hamas were impractical. “It must be said, boldly, that it is not possible to return the hostages alive in the short term without an agreement” with the Palestinian militia, he noted, criticizing “anyone who tries to sell fantasies to the public.”

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“Cease fire now”

For their part, civil movements Standing Together y Women Wage Peace They have led the most massive protest since October 7. The demonstration was initially scheduled for the previous week, but the police did not give approval to the organizers to carry it out. Public pressure has been what allowed it to finally take place, according to the organizers. “Before us, as a people living in Israel, we have two alternatives: either Palestinian-Israeli peace which is the only thing that will bring peace, or perpetual war which guarantees one thing: many more years of war, suffering and murder,” announced the invitation to meet in the streets. On its banners, messages that have hitherto been unusual in an Israel mired in war have been collected: “ceasefire now ” or “peace from the river [Jordán] to the sea [Mediterráneo]”.

The chants have insisted that “Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies“ and not [el ministro ultraderechista de Seguridad Nacional, Itamar] Ben Gvir, nor Hamas, we are fed up with extremists.” “After 100 days of war, the hostages have not returned, innocent Palestinians are being killed and we still have no security, there’s another way“, has said Heli Mishael, from Standing Together, in front of the crowd. “We know that when we start marching towards peace, many Israelis and Palestinians will join us,” she said. The unprecedented meeting has had the participation of survivors of the attack of Hamas on October 7. “The time has come to stop being nice, singing songs and asking nicely; it’s time to stand up and demand it, so that there are no more deaths,” said Neta Peleg of the kibbutz Beeri, which lost 10% of its population. “We need to go to the Knesset [el Parlamento israelí] and demand that the hostages be brought back while they are still alive, end the war and get rid of this government“he claimed.

After South Africa took Israel to the International Court of Justice last week, other countries in the on global They are mobilizing to make the Jewish State pay for its actions in Gaza. This Thursday Mexico y Chile have expressed their “recent concern” about the escalation of violence in the Palestinian enclave in an appeal to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for possible crimes. In a statement, the Mexican Foreign Ministry has argued that this international court, which judge people and not States, is the appropriate forum to establish the possible criminal liability“whether committed by agents of the occupying power or the occupied power” and that there are “numerous United Nations reports detailing many incidents that could constitute crimes under the jurisdiction of the ICC.”