"War serves mainly political and personal interests, not security-related ones“, with these words the military in Israel addressed Netanyahu and called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Mass protests in Israel for the return home of the hostages held in Gaza are not abating. Current opinion polls show that nearly 70% of Israelis want a deal to release the remaining 59 hostages held in Gaza. Hamas kidnapped 250 people in attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. It is believed that 24 of them are still alive.
More and more people are disappointed with the government's inability to secure their release. Among the disgruntled are many current or former military personnel - Air Force pilots, intelligence officers, former service agents, retired military personnel and reservists. Their message: First the hostages, then Hamas, which is designated a terrorist state by Israel, the United States and Germany, among many other countries.
A group of 250 former officers from the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad have supported the recent initiative by military pilots and crews: "We will join the call for immediate action to reach an agreement to return all 59 hostages home, even at the cost of ceasing hostilities," their open letter reads. The message at the end of the document is directly addressed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and refers to Psalm 94: "The sanctity of life, Mr. Prime Minister, takes precedence over the God of vengeance."
The Israeli government "is going in the wrong direction"
Israel resumed military operations in Gaza on March 18 after negotiations for the second phase of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas failed. During the first phase, nearly 40 Israeli and foreign hostages were released from Gaza, and in exchange, Israel released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Haim Tomer, a former Mossad department head, chose to speak out because the government's decision to break the ceasefire and resume the offensive is one of the reasons he spoke out. "People are asking how much longer this war will last before we get the hostages back. The idea of our petitions is to tell the Israeli public that the government is going in the wrong direction and that this direction will not return the hostages who could be killed at any moment", Tomer told DW.
"The war serves primarily political interests"
The air force officers, reservists and retired personnel who launched the campaign with open letters accuse Netanyahu and his government of putting the lives of the hostages and soldiers at risk for their own political gain. "Currently, the war serves primarily political and personal interests, not security-related ones," they wrote. "Continuing the war does not contribute to achieving any of the stated goals and will lead to the deaths of hostages, Israeli soldiers and innocent civilians, as well as the exhaustion of reservists."
If there was initially a reason to wage such a war, now many believe that it will lead to nothing, Avner Yarkoni, who served as a fighter pilot for 35 years and headed the Israeli Civil Aviation Authority, told DW. "In the end, we understood that the prime minister would like this war to go on forever. Once we stop the war, two problems will arise - elections and a commission of inquiry. And then he will no longer be prime minister," Yarkoni is convinced.
"It's like fighting with our hands tied"
Critics also point out that Netanyahu's decision to return to the war and not negotiate the second phase of the truce with Hamas is dictated by the need to keep his far-right coalition partners in the government. They have threatened to leave the government if the war ends. In such a scenario, Netanyahu's coalition will be finished.
"I served the state of Israel for 40 years... and I can say, looking the prime minister or any minister in the eye: You are wrong about the ways to secure the future of Israel," says former Mossad officer Tomer.
Many believe that the release of a large number of hostages is mainly due to the negotiations, and not so much to the war. Critics of the government say its "maximum military pressure" tactics are endangering the lives of the hostages.
"Fighting Hamas while they are holding our hostages is like fighting with our hands tied," says former Yarkoni fighter pilot.
Netanyahu rejects criticism, starts firings
Smouldering discontent among reservists, many of whom have been called up multiple times and served hundreds of days, is a potential problem for the army. Israel has a relatively small standing army and relies on its much larger reserve corps in times of war. Exact figures on numbers are not given, but it is known that many reservists do not report for duty for various reasons.
Netanyahu immediately rejected the open letter from the air force representatives. According to him, it was written by a "fringe and extremist group that is once again trying to break Israeli society from within". He also ordered the dismissal of the reservists who signed the letter, only a small number of whom are on active duty. The letters do not call for resignation, as was the case at the height of mass protests against the government’s plans to overhaul the judiciary in July 2023.
Netanyahu’s requested dismissals have prompted more Israelis, including reservists and retired members of various military branches, the medical corps, artists and other professionals, to express solidarity with the military. They have also called on the government to change course and openly expressed their distrust of the prime minister.
Is there really a desire for peace?
However, some question the petitions and their focus on a “hostages first, war later” strategy. Dalia Scheindlin, a journalist for the newspaper Haaretz, points out that the petitions barely mention the suffering of Palestinians amid the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. She does not deny that the return of the hostages is "the most unifying cause in Israel today". But if this war is not finally ended and a political formula for peace is not found, how will the campaign to free the hostages protect future victims from this "cycle of horror", she asks.
At the protests in Jerusalem, a small group of anti-war demonstrators joined the protests. "We want the hostages to come home, but we also want the war to end for everyone", Hilla, who declined to give her last name, told DW. And former military pilot Avner Yarkoni explains that many Israelis are still traumatized by the attacks of October 7: "We haven't gotten over it yet, because the images of that day are still vivid. At this stage of the war, we may be hurting more civilians than terrorists. "But we hope that with the open letters we will give impetus to the return of the hostages home," he points out.