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Thousands of people protest in Israel: Stop the massacre in Gaza now!

2025-08-10 16:34:15Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Protests in Israel

In Haya Engel's world, all the pain of Israel is felt. Her brother, 32, has just returned from Gaza, and is a soldier. "Because of the stress and the difficult conditions, he has developed Crohn's disease. He will never desert, no: the price he pays in terms of society and conscience is too high. But he is traumatized, like everyone else. This war must end now," she says, as Zion Square begins to fill with yellow flags, the symbol of the kidnapped, and Israeli flags, with pictures of hostages still in the hands of Hamas and Palestinian children killed by Israeli bombs.

There is no crowd like in Tel Aviv, but it is a noisy march. Jerusalem is the most conservative city, the heart of the conflict. The parents of Haya, 26, a pharmacy student, would never come to this square. “They are right-wing, they believe that the government really has everyone’s best interests at heart. I don’t blame them, but I don’t agree. I have not been spared anything these years: I lost some university friends at the Nova festival. My brother served in Gaza. At first I supported the Israeli response. But now it is a war of revenge, which will not save the hostages and will only kill innocent Palestinians.”

We speak to the sound of songs, drums and megaphone calls towards a city that looks on in fear. A group of Israelis in kippahs intervene in the march, at the end of the line. Nervously they shout “Go protest in Gaza!”, showing photos of killed soldiers on their phones. They destroy the banners “Enough with the war!”. Two protesters intervene, a fight breaks out with kicks and punches, the police quickly calm the chaos.

Gilad Gal is irritated by this situation. “These are the ones who don’t believe in the famine in Gaza, in the war crimes, they don’t believe in anything,” he says angrily. “But more than anything, they refuse to accept that their country is capable of committing these brutalities. Now we see the war from above, we bomb from afar with planes and drones, and this prevents society from facing the war head-on.” Gilad keeps talking. “The Palestinians could have built something resembling a state after Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but they chose to turn it into a headquarters for Muslim sisters and extremism. No apartheid justifies what happened on October 7. But the opposite is equally true: the apartheid that Israel imposed on them created the context in which October 7 happened.” Now the danger is one that even the Chief of Staff, Zamir, mentioned in the last tense meeting of the security cabinet: the collision of the two peoples in a "black hole."

Israel does not accept, rebels, takes to the streets, intersections and bridges. In Haifa, the Arab cities in the north, in the south, in the villages of the Negev. And in Tel Aviv, where the march reaches over 60 thousand people led by the families of the kidnapped. The government plans more war, they want peace. Einav Zangauker, the mother of the kidnapped Matan, addresses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly: “If you occupy parts of the Strip and the kidnapped are killed, we will follow you in the squares, in the elections, anywhere and at any time.”

The Pink Front girls are also protesting, with their banner reading “Occupation kills, an agreement saves.” Word is spreading that the protests have reached Sha’ar HaNegev, in the south, near the Gaza border. The crowd chants: “This is the closest place to the kidnappers who have been in prison for 673 days.” The police are guarding the march with horsemen and water cannons. Two nights ago, there were clashes in front of the Ministry of Defense, which is now a hotbed of protests. A group of war veterans has also set up tents in front of Kiria. But it’s not enough, everyone says. A stronger protest is needed. Another courageous woman, Vicky Cohen, the mother of soldier Nimrod, is proposing a general strike. "The security cabinet has decided, with full awareness, to give up on my son Nimrod and all the abductees. There is only one way to avoid this: everything. Why doesn't the economy stop? Are you with me? The silence is killing them!"

For 22 months, Netanyahu's government has maintained that there is only one way to save the hostages: military pressure. In the squares, no one believes it anymore. "My Yossi was killed because of the intensity of the war. He was hit by an Air Force missile where he was being held," recalls Nira Sharabi, the wife of Yossi Sharabi, who was killed in prison. Gilad repeats it like a mantra: "We must stop the war, release the hostages and go to the polls to change the regime."/ La Repubblica


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