Israeli calls for sanctions have broken a longstanding taboo
Fifteen European countries, including the UK and France, two permanent members of the UN Security Council, have said they plan to recognise Palestine in September.
The Israeli government has accused the UK of supporting the establishment of a “jihadi” state and of derailing efforts to reach a ceasefire.
But really, the Israeli media, for example, is describing this as a political tsunami, a realisation of how significant the tide is, and how improbable it is to turn it back to countries withholding recognition because Israel said it doesn’t want it.
Also, 31 high-profile Israelis, including the former speaker of the Knesset, a former attorney general, and some of the recipients of Israel’s highest cultural award, are calling on world governments to impose crippling sanctions on Israel to stop the starvation of Palestinians in Gaza and stop Israel’s plans to expel them from their homeland.
This was taboo just a few days ago and has never really been done before, certainly not at this level of prominence of the signatories.
This line has now been crossed.
Even Israelis are now calling for sanctions on Israel...
Israeli minister says saving captives should not be primary goal in Gaza: Report
Israel’s Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu has said the mission to return the captives being held in Gaza back to Israel should not be the primary goal of Israel’s war in Gaza, according to Israeli media.
“They should be called ‘prisoners of war’,” he said in an interview to Haredi radio station Kol Chai, “and ‘prisoners of war’ are dealt with at the end of the war.
“When you define them as hostages, the objective is first and foremost to return the hostages, but I think the hostages shouldn’t be the primary goal,” he added.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum condemned the definition and said the majority of the Israeli public does want the hostages returned immediately, according to the Haaretz newspaper.
It was never really about the hostages (Hamas already wanted to return all the civilian hostages in November 2023 but Israel denied), but he is correct the remaining (alive) ones are all PoWs, IDF soldiers.
