Paul Adams
BBC News, Jerusalem
BBC
Former spy boss Danny Yatom is one of the thousands who signed a letter calling for an end to the Gaza War.
The Israeli war in Gaza will be shattered, but opposition is growing.
In recent weeks, thousands of Israeli reserves from all branches of the military have signed a letter demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government be stopped and instead focused on signing contracts to reclaim the remaining 59 hostages Hamas holds.
Eighteen months ago, few Israelis doubted the logic of war. Defeating Hamas and returning the hostages.
For many, the January ceasefire and the subsequent return of more than 30 hostages raised hope that the war might end soon.
However, those hopes were shattered after Israel broke the ceasefire and returned to war in mid-March.
“We have come to the conclusion that Israel will go to a very bad place,” Danny Yatom, former head of the Mossad, the spy agency.
“We understand that Netanyahu is primarily his own interests, and in the list of priorities, his interests and the interests of stabilizing the government are the first and not hostages.”
Many of the people who sign recent letters, like Yatom, are longtime critics of the Prime Minister. After Hamas’ attacks on Israel, some were involved in the anti-government protests that preceded the outbreak of the war on October 7, 2023.
But Yatom says that’s not the reason he decided to speak up.
“I signed my name and I’m taking part in the demonstrations for national reasons, not for political reasons,” he said.
“I’m very worried about my country losing its way.”
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Police were forced to back off a proposed ban to display images of children killed in Gaza in a Tel Aviv protest last month
The first open letter, released in early April, was signed by 1,000 Air Force Reserves and retirees.
“The continuation of the war has not contributed to any of its declared goals,” they wrote, “it will lead to the death of hostages.”
The signatories urged Israelis to follow their lead before time runs out with the estimated 24 hostages believed to be alive in Gaza.
“Every day passing puts their lives even more in danger. Every moment of hesitation is a cry.”
In the following weeks, similar letters appeared from almost every branch of the military, including elite fighting units and intelligence units, including many decorated commanders.
All have over 12,000 signatures.
Since October 7th, hundreds of thousands of Israeli reservists have answered calls and wanted to serve.
However, it is now increasingly denied, suggesting that reserve attendance has dropped to just 50-60%.
For the army, which relies heavily on reserves to fight war, it is a crisis that is looming on a scale not seen since Israel’s first Lebanon war in 1982.
In the lush Jerusalem Park, I met “Yorb” (not his real name).
Yob served in Gaza last summer, but he said he would never do it again.
“I felt I needed to go to help my brothers and sisters,” he told me.
“I believed I was doing something good. It’s complicated, but it’s good. But now, I’m not looking at it the same way anymore.”
The government’s determination to continue fighting Hamas has put hostage hostages at risk of death in the Gaza tunnel, Joab said.
“We’re very strong and can defeat Hamas, but that’s not about defeating Hamas,” he said. “It’s about losing our country.”
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Recent Israeli polls show widespread public support for new ceasefires and hostage release contracts
During his time in Gaza, Joab told me, he was about to become “the best moral soldier a man could.”
But the longer the war, the more critics say it is difficult for Israel to assert its military as the most moral army in the world, as Israel often does.
In a recent column on the left of the center’s newspaper Haaretz, retired General Amiram Levin said it was time to start with the senior commander to think about defying orders.
“The risk of being dragged into war crimes and taking a fatal blow to Israeli defense forces and our social spirit,” he wrote.
Several Israeli critics argue that such policies are already intersecting, including those who filed cases before the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.
Netanyahu denounced the protesters, dismissing concerns as “a lie of propaganda,” and spreading “noisy, anarchist, discontinued pensioners, most of whom have not served in years.”
However, polls suggest that the protest letter reflects a growing public belief that the release of the remaining hostages should come before everything.
In Tel Aviv, where raucous anti-war demonstrations have been held for over a year, images of hostages are held in a massive manner, while other protesters are sitting on the streets, embracing photos of Palestinian children killed during the war.
Within the columns produced by letters, such emotional displays appear to rattle the authorities.
On April 20, police simply told protesters that “photos of Gaza children and babies” would not be allowed.
Following expressions of anger from the organizers, police quickly retreated.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister continues to talk about his determination to defeat Hamas.
Netanyahu’s military pressure continues to argue that the only way to bring hostages home.
