Opinion | Will Israel's Sane Majority Please Stand Up?

Israelis protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, last year.Credit: Rami Shllush

The vast majority of the Israeli public doesn't have confidence in the coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Every day that this coalition is still responsible for the fate of the hostages, or continues to send soldiers into battle, is total insanity.

That in itself is a good reason to stop the war and make a deal to bring back all the hostages we can, at any price. But it turns out that the sane majority is drugged by the war and the war propaganda, to the point that it's willing to sell its most basic values and to allow the coalition, in which it has no confidence, to drag us down into an abyss which has no bottom and no red line.

For example, let's examine the idea that Netanyahu put into the heads of Israelis, that "only more military pressure will bring back the hostages" – an idea that has definitely failed. Were there other options? And if there were such options, could we have spared the lives of soldiers? We have no idea. These questions have barely been asked, and anyone who dared asked them is written off as a hallucinating leftist.

Is there really nobody with whom to undertake a diplomatic agreement on "the day after"? And what is the red line, the pragmatic and ethical boundary for the pulverizing in the Gaza Strip? These questions have also barely been asked. And meanwhile the hostages and their families are paying the price, the soldiers and their families are paying the price, children on both sides of the separation barrier are paying the price, and only the coalition isn't paying the price. Why? Because it's war. You don't ask tough questions, you don't demonstrate against the government, and you certainly don't demonstrate against the war – nu, because it's war. Welcome to Catch 23.

Israelis rally in support of releasing the hostages outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, last month.Credit: Olivier Fitoussi

In any case, the Israeli public has become accustomed not to demonstrate at a time of war. But it's not only this reflex that's playing a part here, but also the systematic terrorism and gaslighting by the fascist coalition. What's the basis, for example, for the prevailing belief that "We can't demonstrate now because it will split the nation"? It isn't based on facts or on surveys, but on the threat that is maintained in the WhatsApp groups of the coalition faithful.

A threat that means "If you demonstrate, we'll send militias to you and you'll see what happens to you." In other words, the extreme right is threatening a civil war if we dare to demonstrate, and at the same time is threatening to impose on us, the demonstrators, the blame for a civil war – that's the meaning of "We can't demonstrate now." And yet the liberal majority is devotedly repeating the mantra, as though it were ancient wisdom, or an inviolable ethical code. That's the tune in the streets, in the city squares and in living room discussions, and of course it reverberates in the TV news studios as well.

I encountered one of the amazing extremes of this phenomenon a few weeks ago when I was watching journalist Noga Nir Neeman interviewing a demonstrating citizen who was harassed on the train by a policeman, without any legal grounds. The incident on the train occurred around the same time as several other events – the terrible shooting of Yuval Kestelman, Ben-Gvir's project to arm civilians and the settlers' violent attack against left-wing activists in the West Bank. But Nir Neeman actually insisted on asking the demonstrator whether "Is now the time? To demonstrate in times like this?"

When you hear in innocent living room discussions that "Now isn't a good time to demonstrate," or "The demonstrations will only strengthen Netanyahu" (because the demonstrator will be accused of "splitting the nation"), maybe it seems to us that this is healthy intuition, or acute political instincts. But in fact it's propaganda that has found its way under the skin of Israelis systematically and deliberately.

Hostages' families view a special Knesset session on hostages held in Gaza, last month.Credit: Olivier Fitoussi

One of the most effective practices of the camp of Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir is spreading propaganda unofficially in WhatsApp groups and social media. In that way the propaganda seemingly comes from below and presumes to be popular and authentic. This propaganda also includes effective responses such as "This disaster happened to us because we weren't united" (a covert blaming of the demonstrators who are "splitting" the nation), as well as more specific threats such as "The demonstrators are traitors."

Similarly, extreme right circles have succeeded in introducing into this agenda the superstition that "It's better not to demonstrate for the return of the hostages because that conveys pressure and weakness to Hamas." This mantra was not announced publicly at press conferences, but supposedly comes from the grassroots. But it's clear where the signs lead, and it's clear that it doesn't serve the welfare of the hostages, but rather the welfare of the coalition's electorate. After all, Hamas knows that we're feeling pressure, whether or not we demonstrate – because time is running out for the hostages, whether or not we demonstrate.

We don't have time to flex our muscles, and perhaps that's the fact that is hardest of all for the Israeli public, and not only the right-wing base, to digest. The coalition is likely to drag us for months into a war that has no red line, and to abandon the hostages in the Hamas tunnels, only in order to avoid admitting to the Israeli public that muscle doesn't work here.

If the sane majority doesn't wake up from this concept, what will remain of us, and what ethos of Israeli society will remain? We have forgotten to sanctify the value of life, we've put democratic values into the freezer, and the only thing left of the famous Israeli solidarity is "Together we'll win." But hey, we'll always have "It's forbidden to demonstrate now."