Israelis begin to question the morality of their war in Gaza

Straits Times

4 days ago

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Now the issue of hunger in Gaza dominates news coverage in Israel.
JERUSALEM – The news on Israel's main TV channel had just finished a segment on how
hunger in Gaza is portrayed around the world when the anchor looked up and said: 'Maybe it's finally time to acknowledge that this isn't a public relations failure, but a moral one.'
Whether or not it was a Walter Cronkite moment, when the US broadcaster declared on live TV in 1968 that the Vietnam War was unwinnable – a turning point in public opinion – it seemed significant in a country that's been steadfast in its defence of the war against Hamas in Gaza for 22 months.
There are other indications – from WhatsApp group chats to new reports by Israeli human rights organisations – that the mood is shifting away from a robust embrace of the conflict.
Some commentators are announcing a change of heart about the war, triggered when
Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250.
The subsequent Israeli offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, and left much of the Palestinian territory in ruins.
The United Nations World Food Programme has warned for weeks that Gaza's population of more than 2 million people faces crisis levels of food insecurity, with scores of aid groups reporting widespread starvation.
'After the massacre, it was imperative to strike at Hamas with all our might, even at the cost of civilian casualties,' wrote Mr Nahum Barnea, a columnist for centrist newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
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But 'the damage – in military casualties, Israel's international standing and civilian casualties – is growing worse. Hamas is to blame, but Israel is responsible'.
Mr Sherwin Pomerantz, who runs an economic consulting group, wrote in the conservative Jerusalem Post: 'What was a just war two years ago is now an unjust war and must be ended.'
The shift in Israeli sentiment is reflected in a pile-up of bad news: Hamas still holds hostages in Gaza and remains a military force, soldiers continue to die, Israelis abroad are shunned, even attacked, and now scenes of starving children are shown across global media.
US President Donald Trump, a fervent defender of Israel, even weighed in, saying this week he didn't agree with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's assertion there is no starvation in Gaza.
'That's real starvation stuff, I see it, and you can't fake that,' Mr Trump said in Scotland on July 28.
There haven't been any recent polls published in Israel related to the war.
One in May showed 65 per cent of Israelis unconcerned about humanitarian conditions in Gaza.
But until this past week, little of the destruction and death there appeared in Israeli media. Now the issue of hunger dominates news coverage.
Other shifts in public discourse are noticeable.
Human rights lawyers abroad have been accusing Israel of war crimes and genocidal intent in Gaza since just after the war started – charges the vast majority of Israelis have rejected.
For the first time, two Israeli human rights groups are now using the term genocide for what's happening – B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel.
Also on July 28, the presidents of five Israeli universities wrote an open letter to Mr Netanyahu urging him to 'intensify efforts to address the severe hunger crisis currently afflicting the Gaza Strip.'
'Like many Israelis, we are horrified by the scenes from Gaza, including infants dying every day from hunger and disease,' they wrote.
'As a people who endured the horrors of the Holocaust, we also bear a responsibility to use every means at our disposal to prevent cruel and indiscriminate harm to innocent men, women and children.'
Mr Yair Lapid, head of Israel's main opposition party, gave a fiery speech this week describing the war as a disaster and a failure and calling on Mr Netanyahu to end it and eliminate Hamas through cooperation with regional powers.
After ceasefire talks stalled again last week, a new effort is under way to revive negotiations with Hamas, designated a terrorist organisation by the US and others.
There's growing commentary in mainstream media declaring Hamas defeated, making an end to the war easier to accept.
There's also pushback to the starvation narrative.
The Israeli military authorities said, without additional evidence, that one photo of a skeletal boy published on front pages around the world was a child with a genetic disease that makes his bones protrude, and that he'd been evacuated from Gaza more than a month ago.
In addition, the military has distributed photos purported to be of Hamas operatives surrounded by food and looking healthy.
And, so far, Mr Netanyahu has shown no sign of shifting policy.
'We are fighting a just war, a moral war, a war for our survival,' he said in a statement on July 28.
'No country in the world would allow the continued rule in a neighbouring territory of a terror group bent on its destruction that already stormed across its borders in a genocidal attack.'
'We'll continue to act responsibly, as we always have, and we'll continue to seek the return of our hostages and the defeat of Hamas,' he said. 'That is the only way to secure peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike.' BLOOMBERG