{"id":36768,"date":"2025-08-18T21:48:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T19:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=36768"},"modified":"2025-08-29T14:58:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T12:58:11","slug":"in-largest-israeli-protest-to-date-1-million-israelis-demand-gaza-ceasefire-to-free-hostages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=36768","title":{"rendered":"In Largest Israeli Protest to Date, 1 Million Israelis Demand Gaza Ceasefire to Free Hostages"},"content":{"rendered":"
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. . HUMAN RIGHTS . . <\/p>\n

An article and video from Democracy Now<\/a> (licensed under a\u00a0Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License)<\/p>\n

August 18: Massive protests have erupted in Israel, with about 500,000 people marching in Tel Aviv Sunday [August 17] to demand an end to the war in Gaza. Organizers say 1 million took part in demonstrations across the entire country. Most of the Israelis who were out on the streets \u201cblame Netanyahu\u201d for prioritizing his political survival over an end to the war, says Oren Ziv, reporter and photographer for\u00a0+972 Magazine. Ziv notes that most Israelis are \u201cnot speaking directly on the suffering in Gaza, on the killings, on the children, on the starvation,\u201d but instead focus on the survival of the hostages held in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nFrame from Democracy Now video<\/center><\/p>\n

Transcript<\/p>\n

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0This is\u00a0Democracy Now!, democracynow.org,\u00a0The War and Peace Report. I\u2019m Amy Goodman.<\/p>\n

We turn now to Israel, where over 500,000 people protested in Tel Aviv Sunday to demand an end to the war in Gaza and for the Israeli government to reach a deal to free the hostages in Gaza. Over a million people took part in protests across Israel as the families of Israeli hostages called for a nationwide day of stoppage. This is Lishay Miran-Lavi, the wife of Omri Miran, who\u2019s being held in Gaza.<\/p>\n

LISHAY\u00a0MIRAN-LAVI<\/strong>:\u00a0Last week, we decided to call to everyone in Israel, to all the citizens, to stop, take a day and stop all the country, in one saying: Please release the hostages, bring them home, and stop the war. We are really caring about our dears that\u2019s over there. My Omri is over there 681 days. I miss him. Our daughters, Roni and Alma, really miss him, and I\u2019m really, really scared and afraid about his life. I want him here, and I want all the hostages here.<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMANAMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>\u201cThose who call to end the war delay the hostages\u2019 release and guarantee that the horrors of October 7 will return,\u201d unquote.<\/p>\n

For more, we go to Oren Ziv, reporter and photographer for\u00a0+972 Magazine\u00a0and the independent Israeli news site\u00a0Local Call.<\/p>\n

Oren, welcome back to\u00a0Democracy Now!\u00a0You were covering the protests. Can you talk about the significance of the size of these protests, and what exactly the Israelis were calling for?<\/p>\n

OREN\u00a0ZIV<\/strong>:\u00a0Thank you for having me.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s a really interesting moment, because over the past almost two years, we\u2019ve seen big protests, but not huge like that. And we\u2019ve seen also moments during the war with Iran, with Lebanon and other occasions that the numbers were really low. People \u2014\u00a0you know, Netanyahu is doing what he\u2019s doing the best, and he\u2019s dragging time and making people tired. And this is also true to the Israeli public, that went in tens of thousands in the last year and a half or two years. But yesterday, a big and a significant number of people went out.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s even more important with the incitement we\u2019ve seen from Netanyahu and other ministers that were even more harsh than Netanyahu, saying that protesters are helping Hamas, making the price of a deal higher, and so on. So, in the fact of in the end of this day \u2014\u00a0during the day, there were hundreds, if not thousands, small vigil, direct action roadblocks. The country was shut down, basically, traffic-wise. And in the evening, we saw one of the biggest vigils and demonstration we\u2019ve seen in recent years, of almost half a million people in the streets in Tel Aviv. And this is, first and for all, a message from the Israeli public, and what the polls show, that the vast majority of the Israeli public is willing to end the war in order to release the hostages.<\/p>\n

Now, it\u2019s important to say that this is from an internal Israeli perspective. It\u2019s not like the protests we see abroad. These are people who are calling to return the hostages in any price. And after two years, many of them, many in the Israeli public, blame Netanyahu. He\u2019s trying to blame Hamas. But many of the people, or the most of the people who went out yesterday to the streets, are blaming Netanyahu for not doing a deal, to survive politically. This is a very common statement you hear from everyone on the streets. And they\u2019re calling to end the war. They\u2019ve seen in the last two years that only political agreements and ceasefire agreements bring back hostages alive. We\u2019ve seen over 40 hostages that died in captivity, either from the army\u2019s attack or from reaction of Hamas when they were trying to \u2014\u00a0when the army was coming nearby. And people had enough.<\/p>\n

In the same time, it\u2019s important to say that the vast majority of the protesters yesterday, although the fact they called to end the war, they\u2019re not speaking directly on the suffering in Gaza, on the killings, on the children, on the starvation. You can hear it here and there. You can hear it from smaller groups that have been protesting from the beginning of the war against the genocide and the ongoing ethnic cleansing. But it\u2019s not on the stages. It\u2019s not the main message yet.<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0I wanted to get your response to how Israelis have responded to Israel\u2019s Channel 12 airing those leaked recordings of Israel\u2019s former military intelligence chief saying 50 Palestinians must die for every victim of October 7th, saying tens of thousands of Palestinians must die. In the recording, Aharon Haliva is heard saying, quote, \u201cIt does not matter now if they are children.\u201d He said, quote, \u201cThey need a Nakba every now and then to feel the price.\u201d Oren Ziv?<\/p>\n

(continued in right column)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Question related to this article:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

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How can a culture of peace be established in the Middle East?<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(continued from left column)<\/p>\n

OREN\u00a0ZIV<\/strong>:\u00a0So, to be honest, the vast majority of the discussion inside Israel was regarding the fact that this person, that many Israelis see as the responsible for the catastrophe of October 7th, for the failure of the Israel intelligence to finding out that this will happen, so people thought this kind of leaked recordings \u2014\u00a0some people say that he might have leaked it out \u2014\u00a0are kind of serving him, to clean him and to blame the problem is the general system. So, in Israel, the vast majority of discussion was about that. Was it really leaked? Is it serving him? Why? You know, many people, hostages \u2014\u00a0family members of hostages are saying he should be trialed and sit in prison.<\/p>\n

But this segment didn\u2019t catch a lot of attention in Israel, because, unfortunately, this is very common. It\u2019s something we heard from day one from politicians, from army people, in the public, in the \u2014\u00a0in right-wing demos, we hear it. We hear it everywhere. So, unfortunately, this didn\u2019t cause a lot of noise in Israel.
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\nBut definitely, it shows you that such a high commander saying these things openly, you know, without being ashamed and without getting any attention in Israel, show you that this decision of revenge, of genocidal war, was done from day one. And Israel, also to cover the failure of October 7, decided to go to a revenge, a horrific war, as we\u2019re seeing now. And you can see that this decision is not just by soldiers on the ground or right-wing or extreme so-called settlers. This is all across the army, from the high-ranked commanders and the politicians to the simple soldiers. And now when we see the horrific reality in Gaza after almost two years, we can understand this was planned. The army felt they have to revenge to cover up the failure of October 7.<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0I also wanted to ask you about the Israelis who are refusing to enlist in the Israeli military. You just posted a short video of 19-year-old Yona Roseman, who was sentenced to 30 days in military prison.<\/p>\n

YONA\u00a0ROSEMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0Today, I\u2019m going to show up at a draft office and declare that I refuse to serve in an army that\u2019s committing genocide. And for that, I will probably be sent to military jail.<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0That\u2019s Yona Roseman. How common is this, the refuseniks?<\/p>\n

OREN\u00a0ZIV<\/strong>:\u00a0So, it\u2019s not very common, especially in mandatory service. Eighteen-year-old students, high school students are all the system, all their life \u2014\u00a0all the education system is pushing them to go to the army. That\u2019s the norm. In order to be like Yona and other brave young Israelis, you have to go against the stream and to educate yourself and to go to demonstration and meet people and not watch the Israeli mainstream media, who doesn\u2019t show you what\u2019s going on in Gaza and the West Bank. And so, it\u2019s not very common.<\/p>\n

But we\u2019ve seen some increase in the number. Already from the beginning of the war, more than 12 announced, ones who went public, a youth who refused. And they pay a price. It\u2019s not only 30 days in prison. They have to go again and again to prison a few times. But among reservists, we\u2019ve seen \u2014 reservists, we\u2019ve seen a growing movement of people refusing, because of what\u2019s been happening in Gaza, also calling to release the hostages. And we\u2019ve seen hundreds of people refuse. With some of them, the army chooses not to deal with prison, but to release them quietly.<\/p>\n

Specifically about Yona and her group from Mesarvot \u2014\u00a0\u201crefusing\u201d in Hebrew \u2014\u00a0they are showing \u2014\u00a0they want to show that not everybody in Israel, that there is a small group who resists the genocide and the horrific things the army does. And as she told us, that\u2019s her duty. That\u2019s the only thing you can do when you see what the army is doing. She told me in the interview before she went to prison that she decided even before October 7 and before the war in Gaza to refuse, but after the genocide started, it was much easier for her to take this decision. And we hear it from other refuseniks, as well.<\/p>\n

And, you know, it\u2019s very hard. When she appears on social media, on national media, they get a lot of incitement, hatred, inside the prison and also when they go out. Last month, they burned some of the enlistment orders in the streets in Tel Aviv. And to do something like that in the general atmosphere in Israel, that is very hostile to this action, is very, very brave.<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0I finally wanted to ask you, as you cover protests, yes, the protests this weekend of a million Israelis, but also about the protest outside the hotel where\u00a0GHF\u00a0staff were staying in Tel Aviv. That\u2019s the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, this shadowy U.S.-backed Israeli company that is supposedly providing food aid, but when people come, they are often shot dead as they try to seek food, children and adults alike. What about that protest?<\/p>\n

OREN\u00a0ZIV<\/strong>:\u00a0So last week, a group of activists, radical left-wing activists, located where the so-called\u00a0GHF\u00a0staff, including\u00a0CEO\u00a0and other senior members, are staying in Tel Aviv, because, you know, they work in Gaza in coordination with the Israeli army and other companies, but they\u2019re staying in a very fancy hotel in the shore of Tel Aviv. And they wanted to come there to send a clear message that this is not accepted, that they\u2019re not welcome here, and to stop this lie that is called the Gaza Humanitarian Fund. So, they came there, around 50 protesters, to surprise. The police was not aware of it. They arrived there to the entrance of the hotel, we know from people inside. They heard them inside the hotel. And they were protesting there for about an hour. The police was trying to push them away.<\/p>\n

Some tourists and people who passed by tried to confront them. And this happens, by the way, in every demo like this, against the genocide, against the starvation, in Tel Aviv and other cities, that are often attacked by the Israeli public. The Israeli mainstream media doesn\u2019t show the images or the voices from Gaza like you do and many other media outlets. So, when the Israeli public is met on the streets with people who are trying just to show the facts, to shed light on what\u2019s happening on the other side of the fence, people are many times surprised or even angry and try to attack the protesters. And they are telling me this is only one of first actions they will do against the\u00a0GHF\u00a0operation here in the region.<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0Oren Ziv, we want to thank you for being with us, reporter and photographer for\u00a0+972 Magazine\u00a0and the independent Israeli news site\u00a0Local Call.
\n– – – – – –<\/p>\n

If you wish to make a comment on this article, you may write to coordinator@cpnn-world.org with the title “Comment on (name of article)” and we will put your comment on line. Because of the flood of spam, we have discontinued the direct application of comments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . . An article and video from Democracy Now (licensed under a\u00a0Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License) August 18: Massive protests have erupted in Israel, with about 500,000 people marching in Tel Aviv Sunday [August 17] to demand an end to the war in Gaza. Organizers say 1 … Continue reading In Largest Israeli Protest to Date, 1 Million Israelis Demand Gaza Ceasefire to Free Hostages<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,74],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-36768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","category-mideast","tag-mideast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36768\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}