There could only be 150, after a petition to the Supreme Court to reconcile the right to demonstrate with the limit on concentrations (50) due to the missiles of Iran and Hezbollah, but several hundred more, in the largest demonstration in Israel against the war it launched in Iran together with the United States. Just like last week, when it only gathered dozens, the police have intervened to disperse it, with 17 arrests and gratuitous pushes. The protesters kept it up until the reality of the conflict prevailed: a mobile alert announced the imminent arrival of an Iranian projectile and both participants and police searched
Until then and for an hour and a half, the protesters have shown banners and chanted slogans such as “Enough of perpetual war”, “Only peace will bring security”, “Let’s stop the killing”, “There are no just wars” or “Your government of blood, our money”. Two groups dominated the protest: one recently created, the Omdim Beyahad organization, which advocates coexistence between Jews and Arabs; and Hadash, the communist-inspired Arab party that receives thousands of Jewish votes.
The rest, as could be seen on t-shirts and stickers, was a mix of Jewish Israelis who, from different political positions, defend pacifism, criticize the occupation of the Palestinian territories or have taken to the streets since the last decade against the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A few carried photos of children killed by Israeli bombings in Lebanon or Gaza. Also from the Bani Odeh, the Palestinian family who returned to their home in the West Bank three weeks ago when undercover Israeli soldiers.
Tel Aviv has been, as usual, the center of the protest, but hundreds of others have taken to the streets in other cities, such as Haifa and Jerusalem. Also in limited and determined numbers after the last minute petition to the Supreme Court of ACRI, the largest civil rights organization in the country. They have only been summoned in places with shelters nearby. In Tel Aviv, in the square that overlooks the Habima theater, next to the largest in the city.
“It is our obligation to take to the streets against the war in Iran, in Lebanon, in Gaza and in the West Bank,” Omdim Beyahad co-leader Alon Lee-Green, who ended up being arrested and handcuffed by the agents, shouted with a megaphone. Other chants referred more to the old fight against Netanyahu after his indictment in three corruption cases (“Government of criminals!”) or to the massive demonstrations in 2023 (against Netanyahu’s reform to give more power to the Executive to the detriment of the Supreme Court.
They belong to a segment of the population politically on the margins in a militaristic and nationalist country in which each of the different wars in the last two and a half years is experienced as inevitable. But attendance this Saturday also reflects a small but growing change in the national mood. On February 28, when Israel and the United States began the war with a massive wave of bombings that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and other political and military leaders, the atmosphere in Israel was mostly euphoria. A survey by the Israel Democracy Institute analysis center placed support among the Jewish majority at 93%. Another, from the Institute of National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, at 91%.
Less support
Five weeks later, Iran continues to launch daily missiles against the country, its regime is still standing and the objectives stated during the initial drunken enthusiasm seem far from being achieved. The cold water jug of realism has also diluted the support. In the latest poll by the Israel Democracy Institute, last week, it has already dropped to 78%. Above all, the percentage that “clearly” supports it decreases and that which opposes it increases: it has gone from 4%, in the first days of the war, to almost 11%.
Nitsan Noiman, 38, represents those who have been qualifying their opinion these weeks. She was happy, she says, on the first day of war, because of its “violations of human and women’s rights,” although she admits that she was “confused,” aware of “what was coming” and generally not believing in wars as a way to resolve conflicts.
Now, she has come out publicly to demand its end, wearing earrings with the dove of peace and a sticker with the slogan “Fuck war.” “I came because this country is in free fall and I want it to look like the place where I want my children to grow up,” he says before pointing out three more specific reasons. One is the laws that the Government is passing “in the shadow of war”, as if to make it a default punishment in the military courts of the occupied territory of the West Bank for those Palestinians who kill Israelis within the framework of the conflict. “It is more typical of a dictatorship,” he laments.
Noiman also criticizes the result of the campaign (“he has only managed to get the Revolutionary Guard to govern, which is more radical”) and highlights his distrust in Netanyahu’s coalition, the most right-wing in the country’s history. “If there was someone to count on, who would believe and explain things… but he is not waging this war thinking about our good, nor about the Iranians, but rather out of mere political calculation,” he points out.
Another protester, Tal, 58, was on the other hand clear of her rejection from the beginning (“it leads us nowhere and only serves Netanyahu’s interests,” she summarizes), but she came for the first time spurred by last week’s violent repression, which contrasts with the laxity with which the authorities allow much larger gatherings on a daily basis in almost any place. “I am against wars in general, but,” he adds, “if I have come today it is also to defend my right to express my opinion.”
