Adam Zivo: With Iran defeated, Israelis look for peace in Gaza

National Post

a day ago

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14-year-old Tania also supported the strikes on Iran, but worried that they had made people 'kind of forget about the war in Gaza.' She was concerned about the hostages still being held by Hamas, and was distressed about the well-being of Palestinian civilians who 'are getting hurt and killed every day.' Her friend, Masha, concurred: 'It's not gonna be normal until the hostages will come back from Gaza.'
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They directed me to a table crowded with older students, where I met 18-year-old Itamar, who will soon be commencing his mandatory military service. 'We did what we have to did, and we did it fast. We did it quickly. We didn't hurt that much people, and we stick to the mission,' he said proudly. Yet, he believed that the Islamic Republic would inevitably attack again — perhaps in 20 or 30 years.
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'If Iran stops all the war all over the world, the civilians in Iran can live a wonderful life, and they can do whatever they want. They have a lot of money. They have a big space. They have good people — very smart people. If they want, they can live a wonderful life,' he said.
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Two days later, tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square to rally in support of Hamas' captives. These weekly demonstrations had begun shortly after October 7th, but were paused during the conflict with Iran, when public gatherings were banned. The crowds this evening were noticeably larger than they had been a month earlier — an ocean of discontent that stretched as far as one could see.
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'We were patient for two weeks, and now that the threat is gone, we know that this is the time to fight back as hard as we can and demand that all the hostages be back and to end the war,' said Lee Hoffmann Agiv, a social activist.
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According to her, many volunteers who normally advocate for the hostages temporarily pivoted towards helping families impacted by the Iran war instead — for example: by gathering essentials for those who'd lost their homes. However, Agiv and her colleagues tried to keep the hostages on the national agenda during this period, often by using social media. 'We did our best in making the families feel like they're not forgotten, and to be with them and to send the message that we think about them all the time,' she said.
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Or Keshet, another demonstrator, found it 'depressing' that no Gazan ceasefire had been signed, and believed that 'political, cynical motivations' were causing the Israeli government to unnecessarily prolong the war. 'You know, the Iran war took 12 days, and after 12 days, the war was finished. The war in Gaza is lasting already, you know, 631 days. It doesn't make sense,' he said.
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Shai and Gil Dickmann — a brother and sister duo whose cousin remains in captivity — were similarly disapproving of the government's prosecution of the war. They believed that if Israel could sign a ceasefire with Iran, wherein the Ayatollah remained in power, then the same could be done in Gaza, too. Perhaps fully eradicating Hamas was not strictly necessary.
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'For 12 days, the square was empty, and people were focused on the war with Iran, and right now to see it full of people, that means that we hadn't forgotten about the hostages, and they should know that we will not give up until they're all home,' said Gil.