Captive’s father: ‘I’m begging there will be a deal’
Israelis are set to celebrate Passover, a holiday meant to symbolise freedom, against the backdrop of the war in Gaza.
Passover is a major Jewish holiday – celebrated over the course of a week – that commemorates the biblical story of the exodus of ancient Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Jews will gather for a meal, called a “seder”, on Monday night to read the Passover story aloud.
In Israel, some prepared to leave chairs at the seder table empty to symbolise the captives remaining in Gaza. “I can’t imagine celebrating Pesach, the freedom holiday, without my son,” said Dalit Shtivi, whose son Idan is held in Gaza. “I’m begging there will be a deal.”
It seems Netanyahu will have to go first before there will be a ceasefire. With a fresh 27 billion in aid from the USA, Netanyahu has no reason to stop the war.
About 85 percent of Israelis have little or no trust in the government: Poll
The public opinion poll by Israel’s Yediot Ahronoth media outlet and The Institute for Freedom and Responsibility of Reichman University suggests 85 percent of Israelis have little or no trust in their government.
About 64 percent of Israelis believe their country faces an existential threat, and 65 percent have not been sleeping well since the outbreak of the war, it said. At least 73 percent of Israelis have grown anxious in the past six months.
It's hard to sleep with a guilty conscience. In the end, the Israeli public did vote for this ultra right wing openly neo-fascist government.
Resignation of Israel’s army intel chief ‘justified and honourable’
Yair Lapid, Israel’s opposition leader, says the resignation of Major-General Haliva, head of Israel’s military intelligence, was “justified and honourable”.
He called on Netanyahu to follow suit.
“Along with authority comes heavy responsibility,” Lapid said on X.
Why did the Israeli military intelligence chief resign now?
Akiva Eldar, an Israeli author and former columnist with Haaretz newspaper, says Major-General Halavi quit likely because Netanyahu isn’t going to end the war on Gaza anytime soon.
Eldar added another reason is that the prime minister “is not interested in bringing the captives back to Israel”.
“Netanyahu is the highest authority and he never took responsibility [for the Hamas attack] so Haliva wanted to send a personal message to tell him, ‘If I can do it, you can do it,’” he said. His move will energise antigovernment protests while putting more pressure on war cabinet members Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot. “It will create a dynamic that will make it harder for them to convince their constituencies that they have a good reason to stay,” said Eldar.
“If Haliva felt it was a time to say goodbye, many will call on them to step down since they were also part of this lack of strategy to end the conflict with the Palestinians.”
