The divided pressure for a ceasefire

Israeli protesters march to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem demanding a hostage deal on July 18, 2024. (Molly Myers/Enterprise-Record)

TEL AVIV — So much has happened since I arrived in Israel: a terrorist attack in the north where a soldier was stabbed, multiple protests and now the Houthis attack.

Let’s talk about protests.

On Thursday I went to my first Israeli protest. I stayed late at the newsroom in Jerusalem and the reporter covering the protests asked me at the last minute if I wanted to come. I immediately said yes.

Over the past eight months, several pro-Palestine/ceasefire demonstrations have taken place in Chico on and off campus. I have covered many of them for The Orion, Chico State’s student newspaper. We have also interviewed Palestinian students about their views on the conflict. There was so much Palestine-related content on our site that we were accused of being biased against Israel.

However, there was no pro-Israel demonstration in Chico, and there has yet to be one. Believe me, there are many “pro-Israel” people in our city, but they seem to be quiet and not inclined to mobilize.

Unknown to probably most campus protesters in America, Israelis are protesting for the same goal: a ceasefire. Their reasoning? Very different.

In Chico, as with virtually all pro-Palestinian protests in America, calls are being made for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas out of a desire to end the suffering of Gazans.

In Israel, a ceasefire means a deal with Hamas to get the hostages home.

There are currently 116 hostages in Gaza, two of whom are Americans. Not all are alive and the exact number of dead in captivity is unknown.

The Bring Them Home movement is everywhere in Israel, especially in Tel Aviv. On every corner hangs a hostage poster with a picture of someone’s mother, brother or small child in bold letters in Hebrew or English with the demand: “BRING THEM HOME.” People wear dog tags with the slogan, and the movement’s symbol, a yellow ribbon, is on everyone’s shirt, wrist or car door handle.

Although the movement is large, it is not all-encompassing.

A ceasefire deal would involve exchanging Palestinian prisoners who committed acts of terror for hostages. This is an exchange that many Israelis find abhorrent. Some also see a deal as a slap in the face to those who have died fighting for the war so far. This camp believes that the war must end before there can be a ceasefire, whatever “ended” means.

Bring Them Home is largely led by family members of the hostages. However, not all hostage families are on the side of Bring Them Home.

The Tikva Forum is run by a minority of hostage families who are conservative, pro-government and Orthodox, and who believe there should be no deal with Hamas. They say they are putting the country above their loved ones by pushing the government to keep fighting for the betterment of Israel as a whole.

They argue, correctly, that releasing Palestinian prisoners threatens the safety of Israelis. Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, was once a prisoner himself and was released in a hostage deal in 2011. The Tikva Forum believes that if the hostages come home, they should be rescued by force by the IDF.

At the protest I went to, both sides were present and separated by a short fence. Families of hostages on both sides were engaged in heated discussions with annoyed looks on their faces—their hands in the air, their voices raised as they leaned over the barrier to look each other in the eye and argue.

Both sides share the agony of having a loved one taken from them, now rotting and wasting away in Gaza. Every day, families wait for their return, not knowing whether the hostages are dead or alive.

The protest hit me harder than I expected. As I walked toward the crowd of people waving Israeli flags, they began playing “HaBayita,” the anthem of the Bring Them Home movement.

It was the first time I saw a protest related to the war, where people cared about the hostages. I had to hold back tears when the journalist I was with pointed out who was part of a hostage family. She pointed to a man who looked to be in his twenties, but younger than me. She told me that his grandfather had been a hostage but had died in captivity.

Months ago, back in Chico, a friend of mine said he was tired of hearing about the hostages when Israel had killed thousands of Palestinian civilians. Although insensitive, the way he feels about the situation is how many people our age feel. It seems that the disparity in casualties on both sides defines the narrative, and the humanity of the victims.

I suppressed my emotions about the hostage situation while covering the protests in America. I heard and felt the pain of those who care – rightly – about the plight of the people of Gaza.

Before anyone could mourn the slaughtered and kidnapped Israelis of October 7, the story was about the suffering of the people of Gaza. There are many reasons for this. One is the dehumanization and demonization of Israelis, and the other was the immediate, arbitrary, and overwhelming response of the Israeli government.