Published: 26 June 2024
Last updated: 26 June 2024
While there is universal solidarity with Israeli hostages across the political spectrum today, the question of who is to blame for their nine-month captivity is dividing and tearing apart Israel, no less than the fate of the Supreme Court did a year ago.
Anyone walking the streets of a largely left-wing Tel Aviv today will see huge signs and billboards on many street corners bearing the message, “Bring them Home”.
In right-wing Jerusalem, there are far fewer signs. Those that appear are far more likely to say, “Let them go”.
The change in wording is not an accident. While the Jerusalem demand is aimed at Hamas, the Tel Aviv demand is squarely directed at the Israeli government. In many Tel Aviv protests, the content of the signs and speeches is so focused on the failure of the Prime Minister to negotiate a deal, that one would think it is not Hamas, but rather Netanyahu holding the Israelis hostage.
In an open letter addressed to diaspora Jewry, several hostage families wrote this week:
“There is one man preventing 120 families from being reunited and from bringing their loved ones home to proper burial. That man is indicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We need the leadership of American Jewish institutions, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and UJA Federation of New York, to pressure him directly and forcefully to make a deal.
"Since day one of this war, Netanyahu has done everything in his power to torpedo any chance of a hostage deal. From limiting the mandate given to his own negotiating team, to flat-out pulling a 180-degree flip on matters agreed upon in his own war cabinet and authorising brutal attacks on the Gaza Strip resulting in many thousands of Palestinian civilian deaths.”
Comments1
Tzak4 July at 07:44 am
If Yesh Atid,Labor and National Unity guarantee to support a Likud led by Netanyahu till October 2026 a deal to release the Hostages will be possible .
A total ceasefire is not the problem or the unjust release of murderer terrorists .
It is the withdrawal from Gaza by the IDF without a moderate Arab Force ensuring a Truce for many years .
Some say even if Hamas slowly returns there can be a Truce that will last sometime because Israel will fortify overwhelmingly but then there is Iran closer and closer to a nuclear capacity .