Some politicians and analysts were quick to minimize the significance of the mass protests on Sunday and Monday after the Labor Court ordered the Histadrut strike over. But the protests may become in hindsight a watershed moment in the long struggle by the families of hostages and the even longer struggle of opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, because, for the first time since the war’s outbreak, the two groups converged.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents a significant majority of the families, was careful until last week not to attack the prime minister directly. It issued criticism of his management of the hostage negotiations but refrained from pointing fingers at him and blaming him for tripping up the hostage deal.
That changed after the late-night cabinet vote on Thursday that the IDF would retain a permanent presence along the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border. Reports indicated that Netanyahu acknowledged during the meeting that this could mean the end of the hostage deal negotiations. His counterargument was that this would indicate to Hamas that Israel had set a red line and was unwilling to budge, with the hope that Hamas would blink first.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the only member of the cabinet to vote against the decision, reportedly tried to appeal to the emotions of the ministers present, insisting that they were acting as if there was time to spare, when, in fact, there was not. The appeals were unsuccessful.
A small group of family members of hostages, led by Einav Zangauker, began months ago to blame the prime minister for delaying a deal. However, following Thursday’s cabinet decision and the removal of the six bodies over the weekend, three of whom would have been released in the first stage of a hostage deal, the entire hostage forum followed suit.
The energy and size of the protest in Tel Aviv on Sunday evening were unprecedented since last year’s judicial reforms, which eventually led the prime minister to enter talks with the opposition at the President’s Residence.
Changes in policy
This time around, the protests have yet to create any change in policy. However, the next few weeks will indicate whether or not they set off a chain reaction that could eventually lead to a significant shift in policy, or even in the makeup of the government.
The prime minister’s decision to hold a press conference on Monday during prime time indicated that he was concerned about the developments. His goal was to explain the rationale behind his insistence on the Philadelphi Corridor. However, his performance, if anything, could lead to an increase in protests, after MKs Gantz and Eisenkot’s refutation in a press conference of their own on Tuesday.
The bottom line is that the effects of the protests should not be written off so soon and that the next few weeks will indicate whether they were a passing episode or a watershed moment.