(Tel Aviv, Israel) They only left the dog. On the morning of October 7, at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, Hamas terrorists kidnapped Avihai Brodtz’s wife and three young children. “I took the dog and came here. I sat in a chair with a little poster that said: My family is in Gaza. »
Since then, Avihai Brodtz has not moved, determined to camp on a Tel Aviv sidewalk until his family is returned to him. He hasn’t moved, but he is no longer alone with his dog in front of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, “where all the decisions are made at the moment.”
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Avihai Brodtz, whose wife and three young children were kidnapped by Hamas
Every day, citizens join him, covering the fortified walls of the ministry’s offices with portraits of hostages stuck in Gaza. They bring more chairs and set up tents to shelter from the sun. They distribute water, roses, yellow ribbons. Motorists honk their horns in support.
All are united in pain. Tamar Orr traveled from the Galilee in northern Israel. “Because there’s nothing more important than being here, right now.” » For Adva Weinstein, “sharing publications on Facebook did not seem enough”.
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Israelis demonstrate their support for Hamas hostages in front of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv.
Coincidence: the Ministry of Defense is located at the intersection of Kaplan and Begin streets, where thousands of opponents of the ultranationalist government of Benjamin Netanyahu gathered for months. In July, the mayor of Tel Aviv renamed the intersection “Democracy Square.”
On October 7, all these demonstrations were abruptly interrupted. Faced with unprecedented attacks by Hamas, residents of this liberal and cosmopolitan coastal city immediately moved from protest to mobilization.
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Adva Weinstein took part in the demonstration in Tel Aviv in support of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
The reservists who threatened to strike have returned to the ranks. The Tel Aviv convention center has been transformed into a crisis unit where 1,500 volunteers, technology experts, are helping to locate hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
“Within hours, the platforms that were used to organize protests against the government began recruiting and mobilizing,” says Gideon Rahat, a political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
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Gideon Rahat, political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
It is fortunate that we can count on strong social capital in Israel. People are ready to compensate for what the state is unable to do.
Gideon Rahat, political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Netanyahu government’s populism and Trump-style disinformation campaigns have corroded the Israeli state, says the political scientist. “To the point where, the day we needed him, there was no State. This is what happened on October 7. »
On that day, the deadliest in Israel’s 75-year history, something broke in the country. “The shock was immeasurable. There have never been so many Jews killed in a single day since the Shoah,” recalls Hillel Revivo, a former Polytechnique Montréal student met at the Western Wall (known as the “Wailing”), in Jerusalem.
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Abraham Stadtman, Orthodox Jew met at the Western Wall, Jerusalem
“We were very complacent, believing that our soldiers could stop everything,” regrets Abraham Stadtman, an Orthodox Jew who also met at this place of prayer. The Israelis were torn by infighting. Now people realize that Hamas does not differentiate between religious or secular Jews, between those on the left and those on the right. »
Hamas’s objective is to exterminate them all, without distinction.
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The photos of the hostages are held high by the Israelis gathered near the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv.
The massacre of 1,300 men, women and children “triggered an integrated alarm in every Jew”, that of the Holocaust, says Gideon Rahat. “Secular people, like me, came to Israel because Europe didn’t want us. We created our own state in order to be safe. But those who were massacred were not safe. We consider it a pogrom. And our response as a people is to fight for our lives. »
General Yaakov Amidror admits: he was wrong. Heavily. A former security adviser to Prime Minister Netanyahu, he believed Hamas could change. “The group had responsibilities towards the people of Gaza. » It provided basic services. Since the unilateral withdrawal of the Israelis in 2005, it has ensured a certain stability in the Palestinian enclave.
“It was a mistake,” concedes the retired general. We learned the hard way that Hamas is a terrorist organization, nothing more and nothing less. It is a combination of Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, which should be treated like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. By this I mean that Hamas must be annihilated. »
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Joël Lion, Israeli diplomat (right), in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, earlier this week
Israeli leaders are not the only ones to have been naive, believes diplomat Joël Lion, former consul general of Israel in Montreal. So was the rest of the world. Despite the billions paid by the international community in humanitarian aid, Hamas has never renounced its deadly ideology.
Before, we had this worry: if we got rid of Hamas, an even more radical organization risked taking its place. But what could be more radical than killing children in their beds?
Joël Lion, diplomat and former consul general of Israel in Montreal
“What happened is horrible,” said Tehilla Benzaquen, a student from Jerusalem who grew up in Alumim, a kibbutz attacked on October 7. “My heart is with the Palestinians. I have Palestinian friends. But they suffer from this regime, as much as we suffer from it. »
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A man distributes flowers to protesters gathered in Tel Aviv.
“Everyone agrees that we must get rid of Hamas,” adds Hillel Revivo. I think there is a real unity among the people. It’s going to be difficult, there are going to be losses, but there is no longer any choice. »
The rediscovered unity of the Israelis, however, risks only lasting the duration of a war. Ultimately, the most resounding failure in Israel’s military history will perhaps mark the end of the Netanyahu era. “People are united to save the state, not the government,” says Gideon Rahat.
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The fortified walls of the Defense Ministry offices are covered with portraits of hostages stuck in Gaza.
“If this government had listened to what the military had to say, there would have been more soldiers stationed on the Gaza borders,” believes the political scientist. Most of them had instead been transferred to the West Bank to protect the Jewish settlements which were multiplying there with the enthusiastic support of the most extremist elements of Netanyahu’s cabinet. “This is what happens when professionals have to comply with the demands of populists…”
All this money, all this energy to encourage the establishment of illegal settlements which add more fuel to the fire of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict every day. During this time, hundreds of ordinary citizens were massacred, deprived of state protection. Many Israelis will find it difficult to forgive their leaders for this fatal distraction.
But one thing at a time.
Democracy Square in Tel Aviv, Amit holds up a sign. “A prisoner exchange now,” the poster urges, next to a drawing of a clock reading one to midnight.
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“A prisoner exchange now,” urged this protester’s poster in Tel Aviv.
The young man was part of all the demonstrations that took place here, in less troubled times. According to him, the unity displayed by his people will not last.
As long as there is this assault on Gaza, people will not want to appear divided. But when the war is over, there will be an earthquake in Israel…
Amit, protester in Tel Aviv
Amit wants the authorities to do more to secure the release of the 199 Hamas hostages. “There should be negotiations. We shouldn’t wait for this war to end, because they will all die. »
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Aron Brodtz rushed from Toronto to join his brother whose family was kidnapped by Hamas.
Aron Brodtz is less pessimistic. He wants to believe in the imminent release of his sister-in-law, his niece and his two nephews. The man rushed from Toronto to support his brother Avihai, who was camping on the sidewalk. A desperate, even derisory, gesture? “No one has had training for that,” says Aron. My brother decided to move in front of the military headquarters because he doesn’t know what else to do. And because he has no one waiting for him at home. »