PALESTINE Rabbi Milgrom on Hamas hostages: Hope is ‘always alive’, but Netanyahu is playing with their lives

The general strike called by the powerful Histadrut trade union is paralysing much of Israel. The protest against the government and the prime minister was sparked by the discovery over the weekend of the bodies of six more hostages from Gaza. The pacifist rabbi denounces that war is part of the “ideology” of the extreme right and is an element of “survival” for the head of government.

Jerusalem () – Some Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip “are still alive” and therefore everything must be done “to save them: an agreement is necessary, but time is running out. The government should insist in this direction, give hope, but the prime minister [Benjamín Netanyahu] He is more interested in coalition agreements and the support of far-right parties, who would abandon him if he makes concessions,” he explains to Jeremy Milgrom, an Israeli rabbi and member of the NGO Rabbis for Human Rights, referring to the latest developments in the conflict in the Gaza Strip: the murder of six hostages that became known this weekend and the protests that are currently taking place in the streets of Tel Aviv and other cities against the government. The logic of “fighting them to the end – adds the Israeli activist – even at the cost of the hostages” has prevailed; for the extreme right it is part of their ideology, for Netanyahu it is a question of survival.

On August 31, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that they had found the bodies of six hostages in an underground tunnel in the Rafah area in southern Gaza. They were identified as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Sergeant Major Ori Danino. According to the military, they were killed shortly before the arrival of the troops. Hamas’ version is different, and claims that they were killed in an Israeli attack. The news sparked huge protests, with the crowd personally accusing the government and the prime minister of having abandoned their compatriots without doing anything to save them.

Many roads and connections have been blocked throughout the country due to the general strike called by various associations with the support of a section of the population, in an attempt to sensitize the far-right government and push it to seek an agreement with Hamas. The objective is always the release of the hostages held by the extremist movement that has controlled the Strip since October 7, the day of the terrorist attack against the Jewish state that triggered the war that has left more than 40,000 dead, the vast majority of them civilians, including women and children.

The demonstrations have disrupted roads and commercial activities, banks and schools; even Ben Gurion International Airport is suffering widespread cancellations and delays. The mass protest, one of the largest in the past year, was called by the powerful Histadrut trade union group, one of the largest in the country, while the government is considering legal action against citizens on the streets for disrupting a public service. At the same time, for Netanyahu and the far-right ministers the protests are not related to the release of prisoners, but have a political connotation, although discontent is spreading among large sections of the population, in the conviction that little is being done to achieve their release.

“There is no doubt,” notes Jeremy Milgrom, “that the government’s decision not to negotiate and to continue using the army to try to defeat Hamas has cost many lives. The question is whether we can believe the executive, and the hostages were really killed by Hamas or by the soldiers who approached to try to free them, victims of friendly fire. It has already happened in the past,” he observes, “that soldiers killed hostages without intending to, by excessive use of force.” However, “it is clear that regardless of who opened fire, if there had been negotiations, if there had been an agreement, an exchange, they would now be alive and back with their families. This,” he attacks, “is a failure of the government to save their lives, and the population is angry for that reason.”

Broadening the analysis to the relations between the parties, the Palestinians’ desire for “freedom” becomes evident, something that “the Israeli people find difficult to recognize.” There is no respect for the other, there is a feeling” that the birth of a Palestinian reality would end up making “the Israelis less free, less safe.” That is why the conflict has escalated, which no longer affects only Gaza but “the entire West Bank,” says Rabbi Milgrom, and that is “an element to which we must pay close attention: the idea of ​​this extreme right-wing government – especially of some members like [el Ministro de Finanzas Bezalel] Smotrich – that the entire West Bank is part of Israel and that Palestinians should be expelled to make way for settlers… is a terrible approach.”

“Netanyahu was clever in thinking that people would support the war” and encouraged the army to fight. “Unfortunately,” the activist continues, “a large part of public opinion still believes that one must win and that one cannot make concessions. The prime minister made the right calculation in thinking that people would support the use of force and would not oppose Palestinian control in the West Bank and Gaza,” even at the price of an ever-increasing number of “losses in terms of human lives.” An actor who could change the situation – one of the few – could be US President Joe Biden, but “the proximity of elections makes it difficult to take a clear position, and any measures will be taken after the vote.” The important thing, Milgrom concludes, is to make it clear that “many Israelis feel ashamed, if not horrified, by the decisions that the government has taken.”