Gaza hostage death brings Israeli protesters to a climax

On Monday evening, protesters carried empty coffins past the home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – a burden they said he was carrying that was much heavier.

Since six Israeli hostages were found dead in a Gaza tunnel last weekend, the burden of the war there has weighed heavily on the Israeli leader.

“I think the fact that they were alive and were murdered right before they could be saved – that breaks that,” said Anna Rubin, who took part in the protest in Tel Aviv.

“That’s the tipping point for many people – [they] are anxiously waiting, and they realize that sitting at home is not going to do any good.”

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets again on Monday, after massive protests swept Tel Aviv last night. Many want to see this moment as a turning point, but Prime Minister Netanyahu has been here before.

He has endured months of street protests like this – and years of similar ones. Protected by a parliamentary majority, his strategy has largely been to ignore their demands.

But if Mr Netanyahu does not listen, many Israelis will not protest.

A one-day general strike called by the country’s labor unions was observed sporadically – even in Tel Aviv, the country’s liberal coastal heartland.

Shops and restaurants in the city centre were mostly open after briefly closing in support of the protest on Sunday night.

“I disagree with this decision,” an employee at a local coffee shop told me. “We should close.”

Tamara is picking up a scooter on the street, wearing big sunglasses and perfect lipstick. “I don’t agree with the strike,” she says. “We want the hostages back – but we can’t stop everything; we have to live.”

Niva, 23, said she was surprised to see so many places open. “The country is in a very confrontational mood right now,” she said.

But the most notable confrontation did not take place on the streets.

In a live press conference Monday evening, Netanyahu challenged everyone to demand more concessions from Israel in the US-brokered ceasefire and hostage talks.

“These killers executed six of our hostages; they shot them in the back of the head,” he said. “And now, after this, we are asked to be serious? We are asked to give in?”

He said the message to Hamas would be: “kill more hostages.” [and] You will get more concessions.”

He said no one serious about achieving peace and freeing the hostages – including US President Joe Biden – would ask him for further concessions.

Moments earlier, when asked by reporters, Mr. Biden said: said he did not think the Israeli prime minister had done enough to secure a ceasefire.

A key Hamas demand is that Israel withdraw all its forces from the strip of land along Gaza’s border with Egypt, known as the Philadelphia Corridor.

Senior Israeli security officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, have been widely reported in local media as favoring alternatives to keeping troops on the ground.

Mr Gallant has publicly urged the cabinet to back a proposed compromise.

The most dangerous moment in Israel’s previous protests, sparked by Mr Netanyahu’s judicial reform plans, was when he tried to fire Mr Gallant – and then was forced to reinstate him.

If he tries again, it could be a real turning point for the protests here, said political analyst Tamar Hermann of the Israel Democracy Institute.

She said the threat he faced from protesters was now “zero”.

Mostly left-leaning critics, their opposition to the prime minister runs deeper than the Gaza hostage crisis.

“Netanyahu knows better than I do,” she said, “the best thing is to let it act as a safety valve – let people say, ‘we hate you, you are a murderer.’”

Prime Minister Netanyahu, protected by a majority in parliament, appears to believe he can overcome the demands for a deal being made on the streets, at least for now.

But requests from his own defense secretary, from the president of the United States, can be difficult to ignore.