On the way to the Knesset, on a street tangential to the Israeli parliament, a protest tent has been set up since October 7 under the slogan "The Failure of the October Seventh," or "The Government of Default." It is made up of the same veteran demonstrators against the government and Netanyahu – from the Balfour protests to the Kaplan protests. Only the reason has changed over the years, but the goal has remained constant. On Saturday night, the opening shot was fired in Habima Square with the renewed demonstration calling for early elections.
Protest march in Haifa against the government, last night
But the significant change in the area of protests outside the Knesset in recent weeks is reflected in the presence of reservists and their families, those who return from the battlefield and demand a decisive decision. They are housed in the reservists' encampment outside the Rose Garden. They are led by Major (res.) Gilad. Not far away is an encampment of warrior mothers, who also demand victory, but also not to endanger their sons in vain.
Last week we unveiled a new protest movement that was launched with the slogan "Netanyahu is good for the Arabs" led by Uriah Luberbom, Beresheet chief of staff, also composed of reservists who demand a decision. And if not a decision, then the change of government, from the one responsible for the massacre to one that will strive for victory and security.
Seize the momentum for a change of government
Quietly, Brothers in Arms are also resuming their activities. Instead of protesting the lost judicial reform and threatening not to report for the reserves, they are launching a campaign to change the government and go to elections at the Winter Conference. The reason: The war will continue for a long time, but it is changing its character these very days, and therefore we must take advantage of the momentum and change the government.
These protests are very reminiscent of past movements of reservists returning from the battlefield and demanding the advancement of a new civilian agenda. In the past, it actually worked. Two prominent examples were after the Yom Kippur War, with protests that led a year later to Golda Meir's resignation and a change of government, and after the Second Lebanon War, when reservists and their families, backed by the Winograd Commission's conclusions, protested the failures of the war. Only the resignation of Ehud Olmert, then prime minister, led to an end to the demonstrations.
Protest in 2006, photo: Tzachi Miriam
This time - it is impossible not to decide
An iron sword war is still ongoing, but the reservists are already demonstrating: some are demanding continuation of the war and victory, and others (still under the radar) are trying to revive a campaign along the lines of "elections now, victory later." Why is this happening, and will 2024 also be characterized by active protests that will affect the Israeli agenda? Three protesters explain.
Major (res.) Gilad, one of the leaders of the reservists' protest, told Israel Hayom that the protest is composed of people from the right and the left. Together with Omar, an officer who also fought on the northern border, they lead some 5,000 reservists who are demanding a decision from the government – as well as Jewish settlement in Gaza and Palestinian immigration.
"We must start deciding", Maj. (res.) Gilad, Photo: Arik Sultan
"We will not allow this government to do Operation Protective Edge or Cast Lead again, or another one of the rounds, it will not end with us leaving Gaza. The ground maneuver in the Gaza Strip was a complex event that the IDF dealt with bravely, especially those who faced the fighters and commanders on the ground. Now what needs to be done is to leave part of the Gaza Strip in Israeli hands, without a Palestinian population, simply kick out the population. And yes, we know that the small area that remains is too small for the population. So we suggest to anyone who wants to leave Gaza that the State of Israel act to encourage immigration. Yes, people can emigrate from the Gaza Strip, nothing will happen. And we come and say to the government: You must start deciding. Just as you don't decide on many other issues, you can't not decide here."
Uriah, who is responsible for hanging new anti-Netanyahu protest signs throughout Jerusalem, also says his criticism reflects the criticism he hears in the unit, which includes 140 people, and behind him are many who support the demand to win the war or change the government.
"This is a war of existence", Uriah, Beresheet Chief of Staff, Photo: Joshua Yosef
"We talked among ourselves, it developed, and we discovered that all the reservists speak the same conversation. They are working on all of us - they say they evacuated the north and there are 150,<> people there. There is a disconnect between the leadership and the high command from the rank of brigade commander and above to the people. They just tell us all day long why we can't act. The evacuation in Gush Etzion was intended as a façade for the Americans. They demolished the homes of reservists, so we decided to stop targeting.
"I am a right-winger, one of the founders of Sde Boaz. And my leader has been working on everyone, mixing us up for 20 years. The Nazi enemy grew up under his watch. The government we prayed for is crooked. Today we have 400 supporters behind us, but this protest will sweep them all. This is not a protest by the right or the left. I demand from the current government, as long as it is in office, an immediate change in trend. This must be done now, including at political and economic costs and with our quality of life. It's an existential war."
Even the mothers who support their sons on the ground do not intend to concede to the leaders they have elected. Nava and Hannah sent four sons and a partner into Gaza. They do not seek to stop the war, only to win it.
"It's not a counter-demonstration," Nava says, "it's a show of support for the IDF. Let them win so that everything they did won't be in vain. And we ask that they be allowed to return home safely. Not to bring in 'humanitarian aid,' not for the terrorists' meals provided by the State of Israel, and for the fuel for the tunnels. It's delusional."
A war that will last a year, with pauses
What will happen when the war dies down? Where will these forces be directed from all the protest encampments? Prof. Asher Cohen, a political scientist at Bar-Ilan University, is in no hurry to compare the reserve protest movements that toppled governments to what we see outside the Knesset these days.
Prof. Asher Cohen, political scientist from Bar-Ilan University, photo: Arik Sultan
"Reservists have great potential to make a difference, but we have to be wary of historical comparisons because of the differences in conditions and circumstances. What can already be said is that the reservists will have quite a bit of representation in the next election campaign, because the parties will chase them. And even before right and left, they will restore to the reserve army its central status, the esteem and prestige of those on whom not only Israel's security depends, but are also the important basis for society as a whole."
Prof. Cohen says that even after the protests following the Yom Kippur War, the upheaval waited until 1977 and did not happen immediately in the 1973 elections. Even 2024 will probably not be a year like we knew after Yom Kippur or the Second Lebanon War, because the campaign will continue with pauses and will be multi-frontal.
"It will be more like the War of Independence than the other wars that were here. It will probably last a whole year with pauses."
The protest at the hostage square, photo: Yossi Zeliger
Will a sweeping protest movement be created here?
Prof. Cohen observes: "Possibly, but we are not sure that it will carry character and content as in the past. Yom Kippur's society was very different from today's. So I don't think we know the direction. What is certain is that the reservists will grow leadership, and political frameworks will integrate reservists in light of what happened.
"Reservists will have a possible influence in filling the ranks of the next Knesset. They represented the dramatic return to the importance of the reserve army and its position as the backbone of Israel's security and the backbone of Israeli society in general."
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