How the hostages became a political football

While there is universal solidarity with Israeli hostages across the political spectrum today, the question of who is to blame for their nine-month captivity is dividing and tearing apart Israel, no less than the fate of the Supreme Court did a year ago.

Anyone walking the streets of a largely left-wing Tel Aviv today will see huge signs and billboards on many street corners bearing the message, “Bring them Home”.

In right-wing Jerusalem, there are far fewer signs. Those that appear are far more likely to say, “Let them go”.

The change in wording is not an accident. While the Jerusalem demand is aimed at Hamas, the Tel Aviv demand is squarely directed at the Israeli government. In many Tel Aviv protests, the content of the signs and speeches is so focused on the failure of the Prime Minister to negotiate a deal, that one would think it is not Hamas, but rather Netanyahu holding the Israelis hostage.

In an open letter addressed to diaspora Jewry, several hostage families wrote this week:

“There is one man preventing 120 families from being reunited and from bringing their loved ones home to proper burial. That man is indicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We need the leadership of American Jewish institutions, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and UJA Federation of New York, to pressure him directly and forcefully to make a deal.

"Since day one of this war, Netanyahu has done everything in his power to torpedo any chance of a hostage deal. From limiting the mandate given to his own negotiating team, to flat-out pulling a 180-degree flip on matters agreed upon in his own war cabinet and authorising brutal attacks on the Gaza Strip resulting in many thousands of Palestinian civilian deaths.”

Articulating an alternative vision from the right, on June 1 National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir described the proposed Biden agreement as "a flawed deal, which is a victory for terror and a security threat to the State of Israel. Agreement to such a deal is not total victory – but total defeat".

He later added on X, “We want our hostages home as soon as possible. In the opinion of my [Religious Zionism] party, Israel should withhold fuel from Gaza and condition any further humanitarian aid to humanitarian aid [for our hostages], but we will not agree to a deal that would endanger the future of the State of Israel.”

Ben Gvir has also formed the Knesset Caucus for the Renewal of Settlement in the Gaza Strip, saying that "only by a dense presence of Jewish settlements throughout Gaza will it be possible to prevent the continuation of terrorist threats and deter the enemy”.

Caucus member Zvi Sukkot, a prominent radical settler activist who has been arrested multiple times added, “only Jewish children playing in the Strip will make the Nova terrorists realise that they have lost”.

These alternate visions about the meaning of victory, whether it be the total defeat of Hamas and resettlement of Gaza for the right, or the return of the hostages and political agreement with the Palestinians for the left, will define Israeli politics for the coming years.

Newly elected Labor leader Yair Golan, who is hailed as a hero by many after he saved the lives of several Israelis at the Nova festival, is seen by the Israeli left as their vehicle to force the next government towards their political vision.

A poll on June 25 found that should Labor merge with Meretz under his leadership, they would win an incredible 11 seats. Back in 1992 when Meretz under Shulamit Aloni won 12 seats, they were able to lead the Rabin government towards the signing of the Oslo Accords.

Many Israeli leftists hope an equally strong renewed Labor-Meretz party will be able to lead the next Gantz or Lapid-led government towards an agreement with the Palestinians. Yet, unlike the left of old, which had doves in their posters and cried for peace, Yair Golan speaks a very different language.

Appealing to more security-minded Israelis, Golan rarely uses the words peace in his speeches, and there are certainly no doves in the political marketing of the Labour Party today, whose raison d'être today is to support a hostage deal. Instead, Golan reminds Israelis in all his speeches that we must choose between “separation or annexation”.

He also avoids the terms left and right, instead describing Israel’s political map as “a struggle between the corrupt and the righteous, between the destroyers of Israel and its builders, between those who take advantage of the state and those who serve it, between the rational citizens of Israel and the fundamental racists lacking connection with reality".

To inject life and renewed hope into the lungs of the Israeli left, over 50 civil society organisations are hosting a major show of strength at the Menora Mivtachim Stadium on July 1. More than 2000 Israelis are expected to attend the event, called “The Time is Now,” which will call for a deal to bring the hostages home and for an end to the war.

The mass event will also serve as a vehicle for mobilising a political resolution to the conflict that ensures the rights of both peoples to self-determination, security and safety, dignity and freedom. Speakers include Professor Yuval Noah Harari, Peacemakers Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon, diplomats, bereaved families and families of hostages, religious leaders and more.

Acting as a counterbalance on the January confab of the right in Jerusalem that called for the resettlement of Gaza, it’s hoped that the event on July 1 will show Israel that the left is still alive and kicking, ready for the fight of its life to ensure the dream of a Jewish and democratic state living in peace with its neighbours one day becomes a reality.

The Time is Now will be streamed live on July 1 on YouTube. Find out more information and watch online here.

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