The war in the Gaza strip has been going on for more than four months now and the end is not yet in sight. In the north, the situation is still very unclear but a war there with Hezbollah (an organization much bigger and stronger than Hamas) is still a real possibility.
Until the start of the war, the political situation was causing a dangerously deepening rift between different Israelis, but since October 7th, these deep rifts are being covered by the fact that Israelis from all sides of the political spectrum realize, that this is not “just another war” (if there ever was such a thing), but this is a fight for the existence of the State of Israel itself, and its outcome is still unclear.
From the reservists that were called up and within days 370,000 soldiers reported for duty, leaving their family, their job, their business to fight for the future of their homeland. Youngsters, on vacation or enjoying their traditional post-army trip rushed back home to join their units.
But not only soldiers who have a “duty” to report when called up, but in all sectors in Israel society, people got organized to help save their home in whatever way possible. With the Thai and Palestinian agricultural workers having fled the country at the beginning of the war, fruit and vegetables were left rotting on the trees, but thousands and thousands of volunteers rushed to lend a hand and save us from an agricultural disaster(and with that a food supply disaster). Parents replaced called-up teachers in schools to assure lessons for our kids, doctors and all medical personnel in hospitals worked long, sometimes very long hours to fill the places of their colleagues fighting in Gaza and Israel is coping with the war as best as it can, showing its strength, and not only as a military power.
And Israel is dealing with an aspect of the war it never had to deal with before. Hamas, at the start of the conflict, not only killed hundreds of Israelis living in the border communities, but also took many civilians hostage and dragged them into the Gaza Strip. Today, after a round of hostage release, and almost daily announcements of hostages having died, there are still more than one hundred thirty hostages held in Gaza, of which it is assumed that at least thirty-one are dead and their body is kept for bargaining purposes. The discussions in Israel about hostage release and what Israel would need to give in return, have been heated and painful. Hamas is still demanding an end of the war and retreat of all the Israeli army before further hostages are being released and in Israel, such a decision is not an option, even if the hostage families are demanding the government acts already in some way.
Of course, there are always some who believe they can exploit situations like this for their own betterment and some commercial companies have done and are doing it in a disgusting manner. It is obvious that commercial companies also feel the hardships that the war brings upon us, but that does not give them the right to abuse this.
Almost daily, a large mortgage bank is “offering” their services with mortgages at special rates etc. But they are talking to people who had their house destroyed, with or without a mortgage on it. This is really the time to talk “sweet “ deals with people who have nowhere to go?
The ultimate “hutzpa” though is from ELAL. They are now running an add on TV, showing how they brought home reservists from all over the world, with plane captains honoring them, people applauding them and all looking happy! They even went so far as to take the original ad they started out with two months ago, showing reservists sitting on the floor and ELAL proudly stating “we brought them home”. The reservists in the original story, are my son and his friends, who after they heard on the morning of October 7th what had happened, flew from the Philippines to Bangkok to catch the ELAL flight there. They did get on the flight, but not without having paid an exorbitant price for the ticket, and with just a place on the floor near the emergency exit for the complete flight, having to beg for some food or drink. No captain honored them, nobody applauded them, they were like cargo being taken home. The nerve of ELAL to exploit this scandalous behavior now is unbelievable but a very good reason not ever again to set foot on one of their planes.
However, maybe even worse that the despicable behavior of commercial companies, is the behavior of our elected representatives. Most of them have simply ignored the situation completely and continued their empty squabbles in the Knesset and outside of it. Which means we were forced to watch May Golan scream from the podium and Tali Gotlib fighting with Amsalem over nonsense. Others simply exploit the situation, like our “education” minister Yoav Kish who cancelled all Israel Prize awards this year because in one category, an entrepreneur was chosen to receive it who has been deeply involved in the protests against the judicial reforms. Israel Prizes have been awarded in a wide range of categories to celebrate the achievements of the State and its citizens since 1957. Who does Kish think he is? Or did his boss Netanyahu order him to take this extreme step?
Of course, and as usual, Netanyahu is the man behind making decisions, mostly based on what his fascist cabinet members demand, but he reached a new low this week, when, in the middle of the difficult negotiations over the release of the hostages, he suddenly came up with a new demand, that all terrorists who will be released from Israeli prisons as part of the deal, will be deported to Qatar. Knowing very well this is never going to pass, not by Hamas and certainly not by Qatar, Netanyahu apparently just wants to torpedo the deal because his fascist partners do not want a deal. After Smotrich and Struck both clearly stated that the hostages are not the most important issue, it is clear that Netanyahu needs to decide between hostages and survival.
It is to be hoped that after this war ends and Israel can lick its wounds and try to go back to “normal”, that even with the returning political discussion, one thing remains clear: neither Netanyahu, nor his fascists cronies, have a place in Israel’s political life and need to be shut up.
I hope you found this article interesting and I welcome any comments you may have.
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