2023-10-16 07:56:52
10 days ago, Boaz Harel I would not have stepped Sderot. And much less dressed in that shirt. Near the heart, you can read in Hebrew “Brothers and sisters for Israel.” Those words identify the organization of Israeli Army reservists that led the protests against judicial reform promoted by the right-wing government of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. “If I had come to this place with this shirt a month ago, people would have yelled at me and despised me, because this is very left-wing and this area is very right-wing,” says this volunteer from Tel Aviv. “But now there is no left or right. We are one. Everyone is helping everyone. There are no doubts,” he explains to EL PERIÓDICO. ‘shock’ of the offensive of Hamas has united an entire society that just over a week ago seemed broken forever.
Now, Harel works closely with radical religious Jews. He shakes hands with people would never have been found in your neighborhood from Tel Aviv. “That is the big difference Regarding the other offensives [de Israel sobre la Franja de Gaza]and this cooperation also strengthens morale“, he states. Despite the optimism that is felt in the improvised volunteer centers in the last week, the reality outside these enclosures it seems different.
X-ray of Hamas: from bastion of Palestinian resistance to Iran’s pawn in the Middle East
Throughout these days, some groups of protesters have gathered at the gates of the Ministry of Defence in the center of Tel Aviv to denounce “the serious errors of the Government in the period before the war.” They have also criticized Netanyahu for not having visited until this Sunday any family of the 1,400 dead, according to the latest balance sheet this Sunday, and the hundred Israeli hostages.
Fall in the polls
“The day after this war ends, Netanyahu will no longer be prime minister,” the civil movement announces. Even so, the invincible ‘Bibi’ has orchestrated a unity government together with his political enemy, the leader of the opposition and his former ally in a previous Executive, Benny Gantz. But the polls are already beginning to punish him. The survey published by the newspaper ‘Maariv’ grants centrist Gantz National Unity 41 seats instead of the 12 now.
The Likud drops from 32 to 19, and the hard-line and ultra-Orthodox parties also lose support. Hamas attacks have pierced the Israelis’ faith in leadership of the country and their claims of being the only ones who could keep it safe. Although rapid mobilization often gives leaders a boost in popularity, the magnitude of the carnage and the depth of the intelligence and security failures They could end up causing a rebound effect against Netanyahu and company.
For this reason, several experts warn that this perception of social union is temporary. “It would be imagined that, as a result of the tragedy of the war and the lack of preparation for it, the polarization that has dominated the population of Israel in recent months has strengthened even more, but, in that sense, there is an interesting phenomenon, very typical of Israeli society, which implies that, before external conflict situationsthere is a tendency towards reunion, although, at the same time, those sensations and guilt remain latent“, Explain Daniel Wajnerassistant professor at the Department of International Relations and the European Forum of Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “Once Israel can overcome this challenge, these social trends will probably explode,” he tells this newspaper.
“It’s not the moment”
“The State of Israel is politically divided“Half the people love Bibi and the other half don’t, but now we are more united,” he agrees. Father Tsachar, general director of the city council of the Arab city of Jaljulia. “There has always been conflict in Israel; the only thing different now is that we have people in the Government who do not deserve to be there, because They are criminals or excriminals”, denounces from the Sderot volunteer center. But the illusion of union has been broken at times this week. Last Monday, they registered attacks by government supporters on protesters camped in front of the Ministry of Defense.
New war in Gaza, same dilemmas for Israel
Now, almost no one dares to point fingers. Only a few have returned to taking to the streets incriminating posters against Netanyahu, whom they accuse of “having blood on his hands.” “The accusation being heard today is that the ministers do not show their presence among the populationthey do not come to apologize, to share moments with families, to show empathy, as is usually done in Israel in cases of conflict,” analyzes Wajner. On the street, they need trust to be able to move forward, to convince himself that one tomorrow is possible. “People lack confidence in the Government, in the Army, and that will have to be rebuilt, and it will be done, and it will be rebuilt very quickly,” defends Harel.
“The measures taken now will strengthen this confidence. Yes, we start at the lowest possible point, like 50 years ago in the Yom Kippur Warbut we got through it and we will learn from it. That won’t happen againand people will unite and be stronger,” he says, convinced that he was also a member of a combat unit. Everyone insists that this is not the time to point out blame, that, before the investigation commissions most anticipated in recent years in the Middle East, the enemy must be destroyed. “Who is responsible for the current catastrophe is the first element, perhaps the only onewhich will be put on the agenda once this nightmare of war is over,” concludes Wajner.
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