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"Even if you have family kidnapped in Gaza, I'm not going to let you burn this country down."
Yes, the protests are getting huge once again. But they are also getting pushback, only some of which is reaching the mainstream press. Here's a social media post that's gotten a lot of attention.
If you read the mainstream press, in Hebrew or in English, you get the sense that the “protests are back.” In a way, that is true. The 100,000 protesters who were in attendance at the Jerusalem pro-hostage-release, anti-government protests made it the largest protest since the start of the war. And predictions are, these protests are only going to get larger and larger.
And yes, it is true that Bibi’s coalition is polling terribly and that as of last week polls, the opposition would win 74 seats, compared to the the 64 seats that the coalition has that was once considered by some a “decisive outcome.” If 64 is “decisive,” hard to know how 74 would be characterized.
But what people may not be picking up from afar is that there are already cracks in this protesting coalition. That is why today, in a departure from our planned scheduled topic, it felt important to highlight those cracks as the four-day protest in Jerusalem continues today and tomorrow.
So we’ve changed our previously planned subject for today and are sharing a social media post that’s getting a lot of attention. When someone first sent it to me (thanks to Seth G.!), I wasn’t sure what I thought. I’m still not.
But post definitely reflects part of the mosaic of Israeli views, and given the purpose of Israel from the Inside, it felt important to share it while it is “hot.”
First, though, the remainder of the week:
WEDNESDAY (04/03): October 7 is by far the most documented pogrom in the history of the Jewish people. Many organizations are doing what they can to collect material, but behind all of it is the National Library of Israel. In this week’s podcast, Raquel Ukeles and Yaniv Levi-Korem of the NLI tell us how the project got started, give us a sense of its scope, and share some of the moral and technological challenges.
THURSDAY (04/04): Periodically, we are told that a hostages who hasn’t been seen since October 7 is suddenly declared dead. Why and how does that happen? It turns out that there are three doctors are the heart of this painful work; today we’ll meet them and find out more about how they do what they do.
FRIDAY (04/05): The stories just keep oozing out. The horror of what happened on October 7, young Israelis who saw their parents killed, tried to save them, etc. These children are far too young to have memories like that, and a new book in Israel has collected some of their self-written profiles. We’ll read a bit of the “essay” by a thirteen year old girl who went through what no human being should ever had to endure.
Since Purim is now in the rear-view mirror, Passover cannot be far away. We’ll provide more details as the holiday grows closer, but for now, a quick note that we’ll be taking most of Passover off.
As we noted above, the protests are back. The same WhatsApp groups that were peppering my phone with messages and WhatsApps every few minutes for months, are doing it all over again. It’s the same groups, same people, some of the same causes—and it’ll soon be the same intensity. That’s clear.
But, as we also noted, there’s already resistance. Some of the resistance is from hostage families themselves, as you may well have seen in this follow Times of Israel writeup or elsewhere:
It’s not clear from the TOI writeup above what, precisely, is the basis of the families’ objection to using images of their loved ones, since they do seem support the protests.
But what is even more interesting are those who object to some of the goals of the protests themselves, or at least to the behavior of some of the protesters. And what is particularly interesting is that some of those pushing back against the protests are those who have recently lost sons in the war, and who blame the politics those anguished families once endorsed for the deaths of their sons in battle.
This is a complicated place. Reading this social media post carefully is a reminder of how complicated it is and how it’s complicated.
We’re focusing on the following Instagram posting. Beyond what you see below, the IG posting consists of five screens of text (on a laptop or phone, you can scroll through all five screens, which we did not reproduce here), all of which which we’ve translated below:
The post above was written by Hagai Luber, father of Yonatan Luber, z’l, 24, who was killed in battle in last December in Southern Gaza, leaving behind a pregnant wife and a nine-month old son. His words were then posted on Instagram here.
Here is what Yonatan Luber’s father wrote, via social media, to the protesters now swarming the capital:
No one is going to burn my country down. I'm tired of the threats from the extremists. Yes, even if these extremists have family members being held in Gaza You're not going to burn this country. There's no way. And if you have to be resisted, I will resist. Millions of people are staring at you, without believing what they're seeing, without agreeing, with horror, And only out of respect for you, they're staying quiet. I will not stay quiet. My son was killed in Gaza. He went to defend and to free your children and he was killed. He left everything, a pregnant wife and a nine month old son And was killed. He will never come back. Not in any "deal." So I have the right to say to you: You have no right to pull the country apart You have no right to go crazy on the streets You have no right to block roads You have no right to scuffle with police officers You have no right to call for people to refuse army service You have no right to shake police cars You have no right to try to break in to the Prime Minister's home. That your children are being held captive in Gaza It hurts, it saddens, it cuts us all to shreds inside It will get me to send, once again, my three remaining sons to fight, to put themselves in danger--for you. But all that gives you no special rights. You have no right to "take off the gloves" You have no right to curse elected public officials You have no right to scream "Shame!" You have no right to create public mayhem You have no right to block the airport You have no right to call for a general strike. Control yourselves. Do you hear me? C O N T R O L Y O U R S E L V E S. Express your views, but don't shout. Say that we need a "deal" now, but don't block streets Say we need an "everyone for everyone" deal but don't call for revolution. Say that the Knesset should not be going out on recess, but don't threaten Say that it's high time to vote Bibi out, but don't light fires Say that we need elections now, but don't you dare try to swarm the Knesset Say that everyone failed, but don't even think about the possibility of revolution. Stop threatening this people. That's your view. We heard you. Now don't force it on anyone. Want to hear my views, too? To my mind, Yonatan was killed because of the Oslo agreements, which some of you supported. To my mind, Yonatan was killed because of the Disengagement from Gaza, which some of your encouraged with pro-disengagement signs at the entrances to kibbutzim. And nonetheless I don't scream at you in the streets I don't block your streets I don't refuse an order I'm not sneaking my money out of the country I don't curse your elected officials who still support all those catastrophic policies. I send and will send my sons to go fight. I will support and obey any elected government, even if its views are different from mine. I don't believe that it's my right to destroy this beloved country. Because now we're at war Because now we're healing Because now we're reconnecting This is the time to be together in facing the outside This is the moment to show love for each other. And to the Kaplanists, the Brothers in Arm, the Barak's and the Olmert's who always wanted to take Bibi down, I say Don't catch a ride on the pain of the families Don't Don't Don't. Apologize. And know, dear families of the hostages We have not forgotten your relatives, our brothers We have not forgotten and we're not going to forget But enough. Stop. For the sake of God. For the sake of the people. For the sake of victory. And if you don't I and others will be there Grieving families who lost sons, IDF combat soldiers who were wounded, and the families of the hostages who think differently than you do We will stand together in opposition to anarchy And we're not going to let you do it We simply won't.
“Agree” or “disagree” isn’t the issue. You can resonate to some of it and not to other parts. What we all need to do is hear the pain—of the protesters, of the hostage families who oppose the protests, of this bereaved father who is begging the protesters not to take down the state in their anger.
Are they taking down the state? Is that a real risk? Welcome back to all the disagreements of 2023.
In what seems like a strange and painful coincidence, it was fifty year ago this week that the Agranat Commission released its findings after its investigation of the multiple failures in the Yom Kippur War.
Of course, you may recall that our podcast guest, Uri Kaufman, who wrote Eighteen Days in October about the Yom Kippur War, felt there was much that was flawed about the work of the Agranat Commission. Still it stands as a notable moment in Israel’s democratic history.
I urge you to read this column on the occasion of this fiftieth anniversary by my friend and colleague, Martin Kramer.
You can read Kramer’s characteristically excellent column here.
Impossible Takes Longer is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and at other booksellers.
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Israel from the Inside is for people who want to understand Israel with nuance, who believe that Israel is neither hopelessly flawed and illegitimate, nor beyond critique. If thoughtful analysis of Israel and its people interests you, welcome!
Daniel: Thank you very much for giving us the words of Hagai Luber, father of Yonatan Luber, z’l, 24, who was killed in battle in last December in Southern Gaza. How I wish we had someone like that who could say the same things in the US to Americans.
This post is exactly why Israael from the Inside is so valuable. Before October, posts that included views from all sides of the judicial reform issue were invaluable. This subject of this post is not found in the media here (US), and it made me wonder to what extent tthese loud voices represented the overall views in Israel. Would love to see any poll results on these issues.
We are all pained every day a single hostage is still being held - every report of an IDF casualty. We need to remain united in the face of the worlds inpatience. Unity does not mean uniformity of opinion. Just that we know - we share the same fate.