A demonstration against the war in Gaza during the annual Jerusalem Pride Parade on May 30, 2024 (Photo: Kompas)
Reposted from the Communist Party of Israel
Dozens of reserve Israeli soldiers and officers published Friday, May 31, a letter declaring their refusal to enlist for the war in Gaza and the invasion of Rafah. “For over half a year we’ve been in a state of war, and yet more than 120 are still held in Gaza by Hamas. The half year in which we took part in the war effort has proven to us that military action alone will not bring the hostages home. Every day that passes endangers the lives of the hostages and the soldiers still in Gaza, and does not restore security to those living on the Gaza and northern borders,” said.
“The invasion to Rafah not only endangers our lives and those of innocent civilians in Rafah, but will also not bring back the hostages – whose rescue is one of the main reasons we enlisted – alive. It’s either Rafah or the hostages, and we choose the hostages. Therefore, following the decision to prefer the invasion of Rafah over a hostage deal, we, reservist soldiers, declare that our conscience will not allow us to enlist, and that we will not lend a hand to the abandoning of the lives of the hostages and the torpedoing of another deal,” according Zo Haderech.
Also on Friday, hundreds of parents of Israeli occupation soldiers signed a letter demanding that the government stop the war in Gaza and demonstrated outside the home of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
On Friday morning, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum accuses the far-right government of intentionally deciding to “sacrifice the hostages,” slamming comments made by MK Hanoch Milwidsky (Likud) and National Security Adviser and former Likud minister Tzachi Hanegbi insulting the relatives of captives.
They have decided “to withdraw from a fundamental moral principle according to which Israel will never leave anyone behind, and prefer to continue the fighting over achieving the main goal of freeing the hostages who were abandoned by the government,” the forum says in a statement. “The captives, and the entire State of Israel, have been taken hostage by those who choose political interests over their national duties,” the statement reads.
On Thursday, Hanegbi reportedly said that the current government will not agree to end its war in Gaza in exchange for the release of all the remaining hostages held by Hamas, during a meeting with relatives. Hanegbi was also said to snap at relatives who criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Appearing on the Kan public broadcaster, MK Milwidsky accused Dani Elgarat of exploiting the plight of his brother Itzik who is being held hostage in Gaza “for political gain.”
The police on Thursday evening brutally dispersed an anti-war demonstration on Ben-Gurion Avenue in the heart of downtown Haifa. The demonstrators marched down the street at the German Colony, and sang songs in Arabic against the deadly war in Gaza
In the video footages police and border police officers can be seen rushing into a crowd of protesters and pushing them forward, causing several people to be knocked onto the ground. They attacked also an Haaretz journalist. In a statement, the police say that eight people were arrested “for disturbing public order.”
COMMUNIST PARTY OF MAINE 