Resistance in Israeli society against the Gaza War is growing: hausse to open letters to get hostages free

It is raining open letters in Israel. Thousands of soldiers, reservists and former senior officers have signed petitions to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which they demand an end to the war in Gaza, through an agreement with Hamas.

The main purpose of the dissatisfied soldiers is to get the remaining hostages free. Of the 59 people who are still kidnapped by Hamas who are still in Gaza, it is believed that 24 are still alive. They also criticize Netanyahu’s cynicism, who would continue the war in their eyes to stay in power. They don’t mention the fate of the Palestinians in Gaza – where more than 51,000 people have been killed and a hefty famine broken out.

De Hausse on Open Letters started last week with a petition of nearly a thousand reservists from the Air Force. The still active reservists among them were immediately fired. Netanyahu called them « a radical, marginal group » that tried to weaken Israel in wartime. In the meantime, the Prime Minister has also commented on the broader movement: it would consist of ‘a small, noisy, anarchist group of pensionados’, supported by organizations funded with foreign money that are out to ‘overthrow’ his government.

Solidarity

The Netanyahu government hoped to scare other dissatisfied soldiers with the dismissal of the Air Force reservists. But it is precisely that dismissal that the dissatisfaction has made a strong growth. Unity after unity of the army in the past week expressed its solidarity with the fired soldiers.

In the meantime, open letters have been sent from the (navy) commands, the cyber operations, various infantry units, the intelligence unit, the armor corps, the parachutists, the technology unit and other elite units. Former chefs from the Mossad Security Service and a former Staff Chef also support the call.

The commandos call the Netanyahu government « a clear and acute risk of the safety of Israel and the lives of hostages »

The commands call « the Israeli government and its leader a clear and acute risk of the safety of Israel and the lives of hostages. » They emphasize that they continue to serve, but criticize the dismissal of the air force reservists as an attempt to « silence the legitimate civil criticism. »

Chef Staff Eyal Zamir said that he « will not allow division to enter the ranks of the army. » Reservists, according to Zamir, have the right to express their opinions in a democratic way. « But the attempt to involve the army in this and to speak as a group in the name of any military unit is unacceptable, and we will not allow it. »

The reservist letters are in line with a broadly shared sentiment in the Israeli society that unilaterally breaking the cease-fire by Israel, last month, jeopardizes the hostages. Liberated hostages and relatives of the remaining hostages have now signed similar letters as the reservists, just like former high police officers, care workers, Nobel Prize winners, academics, teachers, writers, entrepreneurs, investors and employees in the high -tech sector.

Consequences for warfare

The criticism of the reservists from different army units has consequences for warfare in Gaza. In response to dissatisfaction, the army has decided to use fewer reservists in areas where there is actively fighting, writes the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Fewer reservists will also receive a call to report.

This can have consequences for the manpower that Israel needs to continue to fight on different fronts. In addition to Gaza, Israel also regularly invades Palestinian refugee camps on the occupied West Bank, has conquered a piece of Syria and continues to carry out attacks in Lebanon.

Some of the reservists were already dissatisfied because they have had to be on call for a year and a half, which seriously hinders their daily lives. For example, it would be impossible for reservists with its own company to combine their actual work with their employability for the army.

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