Last week, throngs of agitated demonstrators came pouring out of the Tel Aviv train stations to protest … well, what exactly?
At a surface glance, the reason for their outing was to picket the resumption of war in Gaza after Hamas failed to return any more hostages and rejected American proposals to extend a tenuous ceasefire. The simplest justification from the protesters’ standpoint is that the Israeli campaign could jeopardize the safety of the hostages remaining in Gaza. Some among them might claim they were out in force to “resist” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s impending firing of controversial Shin Bet head Ronen Bar.
As someone stuck in the crowd, which intentionally implants itself in major thoroughfares during rush hour to cause maximal disruption, I tend to assess the motives of the protesters based on the oversized and provocative signs whose messages reveal the derangement of those wielding them.
Some of the more sophisticated marchers would have Israelis believe they are in the streets out of certainty that the government is “abandoning” those remaining hostages in Gaza. However, after bouncing from one declared motive to the next, the protest movement has lost credibility.
Just as in America, the political left ran out of ammo after calling those opposing its radical agenda racists, sexists and, literally, “Hitler,” the protestors in Israel have steadily waned in relevance since their 2023 peak, when they appeared to have scared a critical mass of the public over the much-needed reform to the country’s powerful Supreme Court. Back then, the protesters allegedly reached 100,000 strong in Tel Aviv, brought the economy within a union strike of shutting down and achieved their goal after the court ruled against the effort to rein in its power and the government dropped the legislation.
The protesters were waiting for the chance to return to the streets with endless demands as long as the hostages were coming home from Gaza—albeit in “drips and drabs,” to quote a frustrated President Donald Trump.
In taking stock of the intentions of the average protester, the ludicrous signs they carry may be revealing. Like the far-left’s position that there is no limit to the transgender ideology—up to and including men fighting and brutally defeating women in combat sports—the depths to which the protesters plunge in their unhinged effort to outsmart Israeli democracy and unseat Netanyahu know no bounds.
Some popular slogans appearing at the protest include fan favorites: “There is no democracy with occupation” and “looking the occupation in the eyes.” The last one is particularly offensive because it is tantamount to blaming Israel’s policies for the unspeakable atrocities committed by Hamas in the Oct. 7butchery of civilians. I suspect the person bearing that motto is thoroughly detached from the shared reality most Israelis are experiencing, and that a large majority would find the suggestion appalling.
There are also noticeable demographic trends among the protesters these days. From the looks of it, the rallies seem to be attracting an older crowd, people whose primary political activism might have been associated with the Oslo peace process of the 1990s. Perhaps like the hippies in America some decades ago, they have not realized that the movement is over, and they already lost. There is no appetite in Israel for the creation of a Palestinian state except in the fever dreams of the far left.
Many of the protesters are similarly aged men and women sporting similar haircuts, glasses and slogan-adorned attire. This is what some in America refer to as the “NPC” phenomenon, short for nonplayable character, a reference to narrative storytelling in video games. Some of the protesters act like they’re functioning on autopilot, following the trends of the day and doing what they are told is morally right by the talking heads on the mainstream news and elsewhere.
One of the most glaring aspects was the ease with which some of these protesters slid into the high-end Tel Aviv restaurants that were conveniently situated at the end of their route. After years of gracing us with their patriotic service to the country, shutting down roads and causing mayhem, the protesters have earned a break. And, fortunately, they can afford it. Sauntering into a restaurant that will cost 200 NIS per person for a casual dinner is an indulgence most Israelis simply cannot, a plan more suited to a festive birthday meal than a spontaneous stop-in. The fact that it is so manageable for many in the protest crowd speaks volumes as to their social status among the country’s entrenched elite.
It brims with irony to see those decrying the downfall of Israeli democracy to the supposedly messianic fascism of the Netanyahu government enjoying a leisurely meal complete with drinks and laughter after demonizing fellow citizens who could not afford this luxury for voting the “wrong way” and thus ruining Israeli democracy.
There are underlying questions about how the protesters manage to mobilize at a moment’s notice, and whether anyone may be paying to equip and dispatch them. Witnessing them in the streets, it is hard to deduce a sensible reason that an adult would march without either being instigated and compensated or otherwise utterly deranged.
Notwithstanding the genuine hopes of a great many of the protesters to achieve something positive for Israel and the hostages, everyone knows the movement itself has one goal: To remove Netanyahu from power at all costs and under any pretext.
The protest movement which once posed a viable threat to the governing coalition and represented the credible viewpoint of a sizable segment of Israeli society has become a fringe, cartoonish display that would be laughable if not for the serious stakes at play.