Israel Weekly News Roundup - April 26, 2024

5 Things you need to know

Israel at War - Day 203

1. Hamas Releases Video of Hostage After 200 Days in Captivity

The video of 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli American who was abducted from the Nova festival and was badly injured on October 7^th, went viral within hours. Hersh’s family issued a video statement authorizing the release of the full video. In the video statement, his parents Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin said: “Seeing the video of Hersh today is overwhelming. We are relieved to see him alive, but we are also concerned about his health and wellbeing as well as that of all the other hostages and all of those suffering in this region”.

The media reported that President Biden received the video two days before it was released by the Israeli media. In the video, Hersh Goldberg-Polin harshly criticizes the Israeli government for not taking sufficient action to release the hostages. Yet human rights experts say that hostage videos are often produced through coercion. Israeli officials called this video, as well as previous hostage videos released by Hamas, a form of “psychological warfare.”

Following the release of the video, hundreds of people took to the streets in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, calling for an immediate deal for the release of all hostages. In Jerusalem, the protests were lead by Hersh’s friends, and the police used excessive force, mounted policemen and the notorious “skunk” water cannon to disperse the protestors. The following morning, hundreds attended a morning prayer for Hersh’s release at the hostages’ families tent near the PM formal residence.

The media also reported that the Israeli security cabinet convened to discuss the Rafah offensive as a means of employing pressure on Hamas to resume negotiations for a ceasefire/hostage release deal. An IDF senior official announced that the army is prepared for an offensive in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza strip, and that the date for the attack will be determined by the government.

2. Jewish Passover Was Celebrated Amidst Controversies and Disputes

The Jewish holiday of Passover is usually a family event. This year, due to the ongoing war in Gaza, and mainly due to the 133 hostages still kept in captivity by Hamas in Gaza, many used the holiday to protest. Numerous families called on everyone hosting a Seder, the traditional Passover meal, to put an empty chair near the dinner table to symbolize the absence of the hostages.

The community of Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the communities that was subject to the Hamas attack, and lost one hundred of its members to the massacre, decided to gather at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, in public. Other hostage families and supporters held a vocal demonstration near PM Netanyahu’s private estate in Caesarea, and a third protest was held in Jerusalem. Families of the hostages are trying to keep their loved-ones at the forefront of the public agenda and mainly put pressure on PM Netanyahu to cut a deal with Hamas to bring them all back.

PM Netanyahu and his wife Sara were subject to strong criticism. They announced that they will celebrate Passover dinner hosting soldiers whose families are not in Israel. But they did not invite them to their home, rather they decided to host them in one on Israel’s most expensive hotel in Jerusalem, the Waldorf Astoria. That drew a lot of public criticism, claiming that they did not host the soldiers rather that tax payers money hosted them.

Later that night Ms. Netanyahu posted on Instagram a photo of her and PM Netanyahu standing near a chair with a poster of photos of all 133 hostages still in captivity. The face of Ms. Netanyahu in the photo was radically Photoshopped to make her look many years younger than she is, and much much younger than PM Netanyahu. That triggered tens of ridiculing memes. One of them read: “Sara and her grandfather”. Later she deleted that photo.     

3. Two Army Generals Announced Their Resignations

Aaron Haliva, head of IDF (Israel Defense Force) intelligence announced on Passover eve that he is taking personal responsibility for the intelligence failure of October 7th and decided to resign. General Haliva and the intelligence units were a central part of the Israeli concept that ignored the intelligence clues and information about the planned Hamas attack and decided to do nothing, even on the night of October 6th when the ominous signs started to gather. Gen. Haliva served in the army for 38 years.

His resignation triggered an ongoing debate about who is responsible for the neglect, and who has to take personal responsibility. Many claim that PM Netanyahu as the head of the political governing system is the primary person who has to take responsibility, unfortunately he has not done so yet, and his supporters and advisors and family member keep accusing the army of responsibility for the whole event. PM Netanyahu was the leading personality who drafted and led the concept that Israel should strengthen Hamas in order to sabotage the two state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Many think that this resignation will have a domino effect, and others argue that this resignation will strengthen the claim by Netanyahu supporters that the army has the sole responsibility.

Another general announced his resignation, Yehuda Fox, who is in charge of the West Bank. He is subject to on going severe attacks by the Israeli-Jewish settlers who often hold him responsible for the deteriorating security situation in the area.

4. Biden Administration Considers Imposing Sanctions on Israeli Army Unit Netzah Yehuda

The administration focused on that army unit because in the last two years or so its soldiers were involved in a few violent incidents concerning Palestinians, and violating the human rights of the Palestinians. In one of the cases they caused the death of an eighty year old Palestinian man, who also had American citizenship. He was arrested, handcuffed, interrogated and later left outside in the cold and died. They were also involved in beating Palestinians and taking revenge. The meaning of the order is that the army unit will not be able to use any American weapons, ammunition or devices. The administrative Presidential order also sanctioned a known extreme rightwing personality, Ben Zion Gobshtein, who is close to minister of national security, Itamar Ben Gvir. Gobshtein is known for his racist views and his ongoing efforts to have his views integrated in government policy. President Biden is seriously considering signing the order after a thorough investigation by American agencies, and the proposed sanctions mainly resulted because the State Department report found that Israel had not held anybody accountable for the actions of the unit.

Many Israeli politicians responded to the sanctioning of the army unit by claiming that it sets a precedent and that Israel will try and reverse it. The Israeli defense minister talked to the American Secretary of State Blinken trying to convince him not to impose the sanctions.

5. Israeli Politicians and Media Closely Follow Wave of Demonstrations on US Campuses

The wave of anti-war and anti-Israel demonstrations on US campuses, that started with a students’ tent encampment at Columbia University, is spreading across US university campuses. The Israeli media and Israeli politicians closely follow the unfolding of thi wave and comment on it.

PM Netanyahu labeled the demonstrations “horrific” and said they must be stopped, as he categorized the students involved in them as antisemitic.

Israeli media analysts commented on the demonstrations, voicing the concern that they have spiraled out of control. Some commented on the possibility that the demonstrations will give rise to BDS, a movement calling for boycott of, and sanctions against Israeli companies and against Israel itself, and others mentioned the concern for the safety of Jewish and Israeli students and faculty members on campus.

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