Protests in Israel Increase in Size and Scope
Tel Aviv, September 2,
2024
On the evening of September 1, Israelis protested in major cities across the country to demand that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu negotiate a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange deal, after the bodies of six hostages were recovered the night before. Many protesters hold Netanyahu responsible for the deaths of the six captives, arguing that their lives could have been saved if a deal had been reached earlier. An estimated 300,000 took to the streets of Tel Aviv, organizers stated. Protesters also blocked the entrance to Jerusalem on September 1 to protest outside the security cabinet meeting. Demonstrators are also protesting the government as a whole and calling for early elections.
Jerusalem, September 1,
2024
On September 2, the Histadrut labour federation called a one-day general strike across Israel, which was interrupted midday by a court order. The strike, which affected schools, universities, Ben Gurion Airport, public transportation and a wide range of economic sectors, also demanded that the government take action for the release of the captives. Histadrut reported that the strike affected municipalities, including Tel Aviv and Haifa, banks, postal services, government ministries that impact a range of public services, including parts of the prime minister's office, the Interior Ministry and other Ministries, and Israel's biggest universities, including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University. Workers at the port of Haifa, one of Israel's five major ports, joined the strike refusing to load or unload ships.
Protests
also disrupted a press conference where Netanyahu doubled down
on his
claim that nobody is more committed to freeing the hostages than
he is.
He reiterated the Israeli lie that it is Hamas and the
Palestinian
Resistance that stand in the way of a negotiated ceasefire,
because
they will not surrender and cease to exist. He said Israel
insists on
its own control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the narrow strip of
land
separating southern Gaza from the Egyptian Sinai. "We need to be
at
several locations, connected, at a certain distance from one
another,
with the ability to patrol along the entire road," he said,
arguing
that Israel cannot rely on sensors or others to guard the
border. Asked
what would define the end of the war, he replied that this would
be
"when Hamas no longer rules Gaza."
This article was published in
Volume 54
Number 47 - September 7, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS54477.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca