Polls show a most Israelis want fighting to stop, but government plans to expand it
Israelis Hold Nationwide Protests and Strike
The Wall Street Journal reports Israelis Hold Nationwide Protests and Strike to End Gaza War
The families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza led nationwide protests and a strike calling for their loved ones to be freed and for an end to the war in Gaza, a sign of growing domestic pressure to wrap up the fighting even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he plans to expand it.
Protesters blocked big highways across the country on Sunday morning—the start of the working week in Israel—as part of demonstrations that took place in more than 300 locations and drew hundreds of thousands of Israelis, according to organizers. Major Israeli universities and some businesses and tech companies said they would strike for the day in support of the families. More than 30 people were detained for disrupting public order, according to Israeli police.
Netanyahu criticized the demonstrations, saying that those who support ending the war without defeating Hamas were making a deal less likely and “ensuring that the atrocities of October 7 will repeat themselves again and again.”
The day of protests, one of the largest in recent months, comes after Netanyahu announced earlier this month that Israel would take over Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are believed to be sheltering and where some Israeli hostages are thought to be held. That decision has drawn broad international condemnation as well as domestic opposition, with polls showing that close to 80% of Israelis, including some on the right-wing, support ending the war in exchange for the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
West Bank Expansion
Also consider Israeli Minister Strikes at Palestinian State With Move to Expand Key Settlement
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Israel would move ahead with a controversial settlement expansion near East Jerusalem that would isolate key Palestinian communities and significantly complicate prospects for a Palestinian state.
Smotrich, who also oversees civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories via a separate post in the defense ministry, said construction plans have been approved for a project that “finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state.”
The move comes after countries including France, the U.K. and Australia said they would recognize a Palestinian state by September, seeking to pressure Israel to scale back the nearly two-year war in Gaza. The recognitions would be symbolic but would leave Israel more isolated.
“Today, anyone in the world who tries to recognize a Palestinian state today will receive an answer from us on the ground,” Smotrich said Thursday. “They will talk about a Palestinian dream—and we will continue to build a Jewish reality.”
“Construction in E1 is considered essentially fatal to the prospect of a two-state solution,” according to Peace Now, an Israeli organization that tracks land seizures in the West Bank. The group said a hearing for final approval of the E1 settlement plan is scheduled for next week.
Much of the world considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law. Already, the patchwork of settlements and associated roads and other infrastructure have divided population centers in the territory, where residents are regularly subjected to diversions and long delays at checkpoints. Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians have surged in recent years, especially since the start of the war in Gaza, according to rights groups.
U.S. pressure to stop settlement expansion has been dialed back under President Trump, who appointed an ambassador who supports settlements and ended Biden-era sanctions on settlers deemed responsible for attacks on Palestinians.
“Under the Trump administration, it has been viewed that it is not a violation of international law for Israelis to live in Judea and Samaria,” U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last month, using the biblical term for the West Bank.
The U.S. State Department said: “President Trump is realistic about the current state of affairs. As it stands, the conditions for a two-state solution do not exist, politically or practically.” The department directed questions about the E1 settlement construction plan to the Israeli government. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The two-state solution, still the cornerstone of much thinking around resolving the tension in the Middle East, has lost adherents in Israel and the Palestinian territories for years. After the deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel in October 2023 and the resulting war that has left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead and Gaza in ruins, the idea has even fewer supporters on either side.
Opposition Inside Israel
Al Jazeera asks Does anyone in Israel support the plan to escalate its offensive in Gaza?
The Israeli cabinet’s decision to escalate its war on Gaza, disregarding the humanitarian crises it has caused there already, appears to have angered as many in Israel as in the international community, though not necessarily for the same reasons.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to backtrack on his idea of seizing all of Gaza after pushback from a military widely regarded as being exhausted.
Under the new “plan”, Israel will seize Gaza City and, according to an anonymous Israeli official talking to the Associated Press, Gaza’s “central camps” as well as al-Mawasi in the south.
Why does Netanyahu want to do this?
It’s not clear.Many in the international community, from the European Union to the United Nations, have condemned the idea. Even many of Israel’s formerly stalwart allies, like Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, have condemned it.
In Israel, many suspect Netanyahu’s move aims to shore up his support among the far-right elements that his coalition needs to stay in power, and to drag out a war he feels his political survival depends on.
Does the security establishment fully support Netanyahu’s plan?
No.Israeli media reports that Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and several senior Israeli officers oppose the plan.
“Everything that could be achieved by force has been achieved. The hostages cannot wait any longer,” the Commanders for Israel’s Security (CIS) group said in a post on X, where it shared the letter.
Does the Israeli public fully support Netanyahu’s plan?
No.Tens of thousands of people, including many of the captives’ families, have taken to the streets to protest against the decision to escalate the war.
In mid-July, a poll carried out by the Israeli Democracy Institute found 74 percent of Israelis supported a negotiated end to the war that would see the return of the roughly 50 captives remaining in Gaza.
Unfortunately, the political reality is that things are more likely to get even more extreme.
