In Israel, anti-war protests have clogged Tel Aviv practically every week for over a year. One Israeli reservist I met in Jerusalem said he’d had no hesitation reporting for duty in the wake of the Hamas attacks. But the longer the war went on, the more his misgivings grew. "The war is cynical, political," he told me. Most Israelis are free to speak out, most of the time, about most issues. They have the right.
In Gaza, it's very different. Gazans have taken to the streets to demand that Hamas hand over its hostages or, better still, just leave. Such voices have been heard before, but rarely in such numbers, rarely so openly. The risks are enormous. In March, one protestor, 22-year-old Oday al-Rubai, published a haunting video on social media. He said Hamas were coming after him. A few days later, Oday was dead. |
