Masses took to the streets on Tuesday and Wednesday at multiple locations in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Protests were originally called following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that he would fire Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Ronen Bar, but calls and plans to protest only intensified after Israel’s return to fighting in the Gaza Strip early on Tuesday.
So what are the protesters actually gathering for, and what is the agenda they are pushing?
Is the protest aimed at stopping the firing of Bar, seen by many as the newest step in a renewed attempt at a judicial overhaul that would endanger Israel’s democracy?
Are protesters pushing the government to make bringing the hostages home its first priority – before the return to war, which is seen as endangering the hostages, or the dismantling of Hamas?
Are protesters calling for the end of the war or for elections and a new government?
The answer is a mixture of all of the above and more, likely varies based on who you ask, and is impacted by the war, the hostage situation, and a wide coalition of protest organizations that have been working together on and off for years.
Many protesters draw a direct line between the judicial reform, the failure to bring the hostages home, and the management of the war, saying all are the result of a government that is not putting the good of the people ahead of all else.
Many view the government’s perceived attempt to consolidate power through a judicial reform, as well as its abandonment of the hostages and failures to protect the security of citizens of the North and South, as just another expression of a lack of care for the rights of the people.
In the eyes of many protesters, a government more concerned about maintaining its power than upholding the civil rights of its citizens and advancing their well-being may well destroy democratic institutions, just as it may abandon its citizens when they are taken captive.
Even protesters who do not make this connection may be “piggybacking” on the widespread protest, using it to advance whatever agenda they feel is most important.
Those who feel that bringing the hostages home must come before anything else can further this cause by joining this week’s major demonstrations and, in doing so, keep the hostages in the public consciousness. Those advocating for any other cause can do the same.
Israel’s return to fighting in Gaza just before the scheduled protest swung the pendulum for many protesters, who emphasized the importance of bringing the hostages back at Tuesday and Wednesday’s protests above all else.
Public protest has been defined by interesting coalitions and compromises for years. Protests against the judicial reform saw a wide camp of organizations focused on different things, all working to fight what they saw as a threat to democracy.
The Balfour protests also saw a huge, loose coalition of organizations all working to replace Netanyahu.
Recent protests are least cohesive in terms of central demands
The most recent wave of protests, the child of previous protests against the judicial reform and for the hostages, seems to be the least cohesive in terms of central demands, with some putting saving the hostages above all else and others determined to unseat the government they see as responsible for the defensive failures on October 7 and others still fighting to protect Israel’s institutions.
Protesters and protest organizations have navigated these divides and managed to form coalitions that have generally allowed protesters with different goals to work well together without fighting over the same participants and to meld messages that one would not normally see in the same place.
The breadth of the coalition involved in the most recent wave of protests shows a bright side to Israel – a country that is able to work together and bridge divides. It also shows just how widely unhappy much of the public is with the path the country is walking down and how little faith they have in its leadership.