6 Hostages Found Dead in Rafa, Protests Ensue

As the war and active genocide in Gaza continues, 6 bodies of Israeli identified hostages have been found by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) in the Rafa area in an underground tunnel in Gaza, 1st of September. The side responsible for the deaths is currently unknown as both the Israeli officials and Hamas seniors (currently the most influental organization in the Palestinian resistance) blame the other side, with Hamas stating that the hostages were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Since the beginning of the 11 month genocidal war of Zionism, October 7th, Netanyahu and his cabinet actively stalled, sabotaged and outright refused any possibility of a ceasefire or peace deal with the Palestinian resistance forces. The main goal is to destroy and clear off the Palestinians from their lands. This policy of the far right zionist government of Netanyahu causes outrage among the Israeli population due to the government’s ignorance about the hostages to continue the bloody war. There have been protestors about the hostages for months but because of the long lasting circumstances of the war, 6 more deaths of the hostages caused a wave of protest. 40.000 Palestinians including women, children, the elderly have been killed so far and more will be planned to be killed by the zionist war machine. The protests for a ceasefire to save the hostages is the main demand of the protestors. The second demand is to stop the war and retreat from the Philadelphi Corridor project.

Protests and General Strike

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has called for everyone to go out to the streets and protest following the incident on September the 1st. Hundreds of thousands poured to the streets, blocking roads and public transportation. Many wore Israeli flags and chanted anti-Netanyahu slogans. The participation in the protest was extremely high especially in key economic hub cities such as Tel Aviv. The Forum also called for a general strike, which the largest labor union in Israel, Histadrut, complied with and called the strike. The strike started on the morning of Monday (02.09.2024) and was originally planned to last until 22:30 Eastern time. With some municipalities (including Tel Aviv and Haifa) also joining the strike, the whole country came to a halt with even the Tel Aviv airport stopping service for two hours.

This was the largest strike the country has ever experienced in a very long time. Although the strike was supported by the majority of the people, Histadrut stated that they would “respect” the Tel Aviv Labor Court’s order to end the strike early. Consequently, the union called for everyone to go back to work on 19:00 ET. The effectiveness of the strike is debatable, however, it is clear from the ongoing protests that the contempt for the Netanyahu government far exceeds the bureaucratic formalities of courts and unions.

The protests do not have any anti-zionist content but the war causes apart of the Israeli population to question the genocide and oppose already unpopular leader Netanyahu. The opposition targets Netanyahu and his far right government for its “extreme politics”.  Israel is a war country and the Israeli state is a war machine and a prison for also its population. However, the mentality of Zionism and the very existence of the Zionist state is already have its logical consequences of a police state which is on a constant war against Palestinian people.  So, the protests have its political limitations. Abolishment of the zionist state is also the only way for the Jewish (not the settlers) people to live peacefully with the Arab people.

Persistance on War and Genocide

Despite the massive protests and strikes, the Netanyahu cabinet is persistent on keeping the war and the active genocide alive. One of the main points of contention between both sides appears to be the Philadelphi Corridor, a strip of land in Gaza that borders Egypt that is currently controlled by the IDF. Netanyahu time and time again stated that the Israeli forces would not evacuate from the Philadelphi Corridor and that the Israeli control of the strip was compulsory in any negotiations. However, key allies of Israel, namely the USA and England, have started to become vary of the Netanyahu government. The US president Joe Biden stated that Netanyahu was not doing nearly enough for a ceasefire deal and that he was in the middle of negotiations, not with Israel, but with “his colleagues from Qatar and Egypt”. The UK, on the other hand, suspended 30 of the 350 arms export licenses to Israel. The UK officials stated that it was not a full arms embargo but a precaution in fear of the clear risk that the arms may be used to commit humanitarian crimes by Israel. Netanyahu and his cabinet have not ceased their threatening remarks towards the Palestinian resistance.