Milgrom on Hamas’s hostages: hope remains, but Netanyahu is playing with their life
The general strike called by Israel’s powerful Histadrut trade union has brought a large part of Israel to a standstill. The protest targets the government and the prime minister after the discovery over the weekend of the bodies of six other hostages in Gaza. For the pacifist rabbi, the war flows from the "ideology" of the far right "ideology" and is an element of "survival" for the prime minister.
Jerusalem (AsiaNews) – Some of the Israeli hostages in the hands of Hamas in Gaza "are still alive", which is why everything must be done "to save them,” this according to Jeremy Milgrom, an Israeli rabbi and member of the NGO Rabbis for Human Rights.
“An agreement is needed, but time is running out. The government should insist in this direction, give hope, but the prime minister (Benyamin Netanyahu) is more interested in coalition deals, supporting far-right parties who would end up abandoning him if he makes concessions."
Rabbi Milgrom spoke to AsiaNews about the latest developments in the Gaza war, like the killing of six hostages reported over the weekend and ongoing anti-government protests in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities and towns underway.
The logic of "fighting till the end prevails," explained the Israeli activist, "even at the expense of the hostages themselves: for the far right, it is part of their ideology, for Netanyahu it is survival.”
On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had found the bodies of six hostages in an underground tunnel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, identifying them as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Master Sgt Ori Danino.
According to the Israeli military, they were killed shortly before the arrival of its troops; Hamas’s version is different, claiming that they were killed in an Israeli attack.
The news sparked outraged protests, with the government and the prime minister accused of abandoning Israeli citizens to their deaths and doing nothing to save them.
Several roads across the country were blocked by the general strike called by various associations and groups to make the ultra-right-wing government agree to a deal with Hamas.
The goal remains the release of hostages held since 7 October, the day the extremist group that controlled Gaza attacked the Jewish State triggering the current war, which has killed more than 40,000 people, mostly civilians, including women and children.
Protesters have disrupted roads and businesses, banks, and schools; Ben Gurion International Airport is experiencing widespread delays and cancellations.
The mass protest, one of the largest over the past year, was called by Histadrut, Israel’s powerful trade union, one of the largest in the country, while the government is studying legal steps against street protesters for interrupting public services.
For Netanyahu and his ultra-right-wing ministers, the protests are not about hostage release but are politically motivated even though the discontent is now spreading to ever-larger sections of the population, who believe that little is being done to free the hostages.
“It seems clear that the government's decision not to negotiate, but to continue to use the army to defeat Hamas has cost lives. The question is whether we can believe the government that the hostages were really killed by Hamas, or by approaching soldiers trying to free them, victims of friendly fire. In the past, soldiers have killed, albeit unintentionally, hostages using excessive force.”
Yet, “regardless of who opened fire, it is clear that had there been negotiations, had there been an agreement, an exchange, they would be alive and back with their families. This is a failure by the government in the task of saving their lives, and people are angry about it.”
Looking at relations between the parties, the Palestinians’ desire for "freedom" is evident, something that "the Israeli people struggles to recognise. There is a lack of respect for the other side, there is a feeling" that the birth of a Palestinian state would make "Israelis less free, less safe”.
For Rabbi Milgrom, this explains the escalation of the conflict, which no longer concerns only Gaza, but affects "the entire West Bank," and this is “something to pay close attention to.”
“The idea of the extreme right-wing government – especially of someone like [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich” for whom “ the entire West Bank is part of Israel and the Palestinians must be driven out to make room for the settlers . . . – is a terrible vision.”
"Netanyahu was smart in thinking that people would support the war" and urged the army to fight. "Unfortunately, a large part of public opinion continues to believe that it must win and that it cannot compromise,” the activist said.
“The prime minister made the right calculation that people would support the use of force and would not oppose control over the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza" at the cost of an ever-increasing number of "losses in terms of human lives".
A player who might change the situation, one of the few, is US President Joe Biden, but “the approach of the elections makes it difficult to take a clear position and any steps will be taken after the vote.”
The fact remains, Milgrom notes, that it is important to underline how “many Israelis feel embarrassed, if not horrified, by the decisions taken by the government.”
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