Thousands of Israeli protestors gathered in Tel Aviv this Saturday night to show how angry and frustrated they are over Benjamin Netanyahu’s no-plan for the release of hostages held by Hamas.
This Saturday night, thousands of Israeli protestors poured into the streets of Tel Aviv, rebuking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his easygoing approach in finding a way to release hostages held by Hamas for more than 7 months.
Angry protestors carried photos of female soldiers abducted by Hamas in Tel-Aviv, Israel’s second-largest city behind the capital Jerusalem. Protesters also called for Netanyahu’s resignation and new elections, holding banners that read “stop the war”.
“We saw the video, we couldn’t stay at home after the government abandoned all these people,” said Hilit Sagi from the group Women Protest for the Return of All Hostages. Early on Friday, Hamas released a video showing an Israeli woman held captive in a move to create urgency for Israel officials to secure a truce deal as soon as possible.
For weeks, Hamas has repeatedly said that it is ready to make peace and welcomes a fair and just truce agreement with Israel, one that also contains the release of hostages from both sides.
Israel, however, has refused to come to the negotiating table, with Netanyahu insisting on the continuation of the war and extending the invasion on Rafah. During the 7 October attack, which left about 1,200 Israelis dead, Hamas took around 250 hostages. Israel claims around 100 hostages remain in Gaza, along with the bodies of 30 more. Hamas freed around half of the hostages in prisoner swaps during a ceasefire in November, while there are reports others have been killed in Israeli fire.
Israeli police crackdown on peaceful protestors!
Despite the demonstrators were not incentivizing any disorder and were peacefully protesting, Israeli police restored to huge violence to disperse the crowd, riding horses among the people and using high-pressure water as well as biting and arbitrary arrest.
“In disturbing scenes police on horseback were filmed charged at the apparently peaceful protest tonight, knocking several people to the ground,” Josh Breiner, from the Israeli news organization Haaretz said, sharing a video on X of some of the confrontations unfolding. He strongly rebuked the police response, writing: “The truth was there was no reason for the police to start using measures. The protesters sat at the intersection, but the police did not like that. Troops entered in force, the atmosphere heated up, the mortar arrived and the cavalry began to go wild. Really unnecessary.”
Does Netanyahu really like the war with Hamas to go on?!
Divisions among Israeli officials have deepened over how Netanyahu has handled the war against Hamas, with many top raking Israeli figures accusing Netanyahu of benefiting from the continuation of war.
But is this claim against Netanyahu true? A new report from Israel’s Channel 13 says it is. The report has revealed that long before the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, between March and July 2023, 4 security reports from the Israel Defense Forces Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman) to the Prime Minister’s Office Netanyahu was sent and warned about the attack.
However, Netanyahu denied these reports each time, saying that all intelligence reports received indicate that “Hamas has given up on creating tension and wants to reach an agreement.”
This new report has now led some Israelis to speculate that Netanyahu and others in Israel’s intelligence and military were actually aware of the impending attack by Hamas but welcomed it and did not deliberately prevent it from happening.
