Yohay Elam

Less than 24 hours after the demonstration I attended against the war – it broke out by a blitz by the Israeli Air Force. A counter attack of rockets fell on Israeli towns. It dominates the news worldwide.

So, 8 hours after the war broke out, also the voice of the minority was heard. I attended another demonstration, with the same type of crowd, but in much bigger numbers. 

 

More than a thousand people marched from the Cinemateque to the gates of the “Kirya” – Israeli Defense Minstry in Tel Aviv. PM Olmert was visiting there at the same time and talking to reported about the operation.

The slogans were the same, and also the main speaker was the same guy – Dov Khenin. The message changed, since the war already was in action. 

He called for an immedate cessation of hostilies. 

Currently, the fighting is still going on, and only the radical left wing parties are against it. The Israeli left Meretz party currently supports it. They’ll probably change their mind in a few days, when they’ll understand that it leads to nowhere. They always wake up too late.

Anyway, for whoever is reading this overseas, I’m writing a second post about (almost) the same issue so soon, just to stress that there is also a different voice in the Israeli street, currently a very small minority.

 

 

 

More (bad quality, sorry) pictures from the second Anti Gaza War Demonstration.

The stakes are high in the Gaza strip. Black clouds of war loom over it. Not everybody is supportive of an invasion. Though I think it’s currently only a war of words, I stood with protesters this afternoon in an antiwar demonstration.

Like in the protests during the Lebanon war, the red colors dominated the scene. With the general elections coming in 6 weeks, there were signs that were directed to the elections.

The red Hadash party was behind this protest. Member of Knesset Dov Khenin was there, holding a sign, and then speaking in front of about 200 people that gathered.

He said there’s another solution to the sorry state of Quassam rockets on Sderot – not a military one. He called for a real “Tahadiya”, including a prisoner swap and resuming negotiations with Mahmuyd Abbas (Abu Mazen).

 

The slogans that were shouted over and over again throughout the protest were similar to the those during the Lebanon war: “In Gaza and in Sderot, children want to live” (literal translation from Hebrew) sounded exactly like “In Beirut and in the Krayot, children want to live”. 

The difference is that this time it’s in the south and not in the north, and that this time I went to protest before the war breaks out, and after our army is in the mud.

Well, there are other differences as well, but that’s enough for now.

More pictures from this preliminary Anti Gaza War Demonstration

I hope to upload some videos later on this weekend. Happy Holidays!

Updates: As you all know, the war broke out, and I’ve been to more demonstrations:

Gaza War – More than 1000 Israelis protest are against it

Gaza War – 10,000 Israeli Protesters Couldn’t Stop the Invasion

Gaza War also affects the price of oil.