Israeli sentiment on the war in Gaza is shifting

During the annual fast for the sacking of Jerusalem on August 3rd, worshippers mourn the Jewish temple the Roman army destroyed nearly 2,000 years ago. This year Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national-security minister, led thousands of Jews in prayer on Temple Mount and promised to rebuild the temple in place of the Dome of the Rock, a Muslim shrine. But on a rooftop on the other side of the city some Jews lament destruction past and present. “Gaza is desolate and laid ruin. We are the new Romans,” a religious leader with the Faithful Left, a group that has flourished during the war, tells his flock.

Until last month, such hand-wringing was a fringe spectacle in Israel. Most Israeli Jews thought their country was waging a just war. But since mid-July, mainstream news bulletins that had shunned pictures of suffering in Gaza have begun showing footage of the emaciated and cast doubt on the morality of the cause. “This is not a public-relations failure but a moral failure,” Yonit Levy, Israel’s most popular anchor, said on television. Jerusalemite Jews packed a cultural centre to watch “We’re no heroes”, a documentary by a film-maker fighting in Gaza’s ruins. “We used to know why we sent our sons to war,” says a parent of two conscripts. “Now we no longer do.”

For most of the war, Israel’s left-wing opposition either supported it or withdrew from the fray. Tens of thousands left Israel. But the few activists who rally outside airbases with pictures of Palestinian children killed by Israeli bombs speak of a broader awakening. They say their numbers, though paltry compared with the hundreds of thousands demonstrating in capitals around the world, have grown ten-fold.

Some former generals and a few mainstream politicians echo the protest. “A sane country does not kill children as a hobby,” Yair Golan, the head of the left-wing Democrats, said in May. Moshe Yaalon, a former defence minister, calls infant-killing and ethnic cleansing “government policy”. In early August hundreds of academics, artists and architects called on soldiers to disobey orders. On August 6th a group of law professors questioned the legality of the war in a letter to Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister.

Accusations of genocide are also no longer taboo. In late July B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, two of Israel’s most prominent human-rights organisations, issued parallel reports detailing the annihilation of life in Gaza. Both concluded Israel is perpetrating genocide. “My heart is broken, but I must say it: it’s genocide,” David Grossman, a well-known novelist, told an Italian newspaper.

Why the shift in opinion? A ceasefire earlier this year was supposed to bring back the remaining 20 or so living hostages. When Mr Netanyahu resumed the war in March, many Israelis began to rethink its rationale. Reservists who have spent 200 or more days at the front are increasingly reluctant to fight a war without end. Global condemnation has begun to resonate. Journalists question editors about the gap between global and local coverage. Sports commentators challenge football managers about the impact of a growing European boycott. Academics worry about their prospects abroad. Opposition politicians say Israel is becoming a pariah state.

Mr Netanyahu ploughs on regardless. With ceasefire talks in a rut, he now appears to be toying with the idea of occupying all of Gaza. His supporters are equally unmoved. According to one poll, 47% of them consider reports of starvation in Gaza fake news. Another 18% say they don’t care. (Only 23% say they do.) Pro-government channels accuse critics of the war of acting like a fifth column. “Let them leave,” says a commentator on Channel 14, which supports Mr Netanyahu.

Still, there are cracks. Eyal Zamir, the army chief, struggles with an exhausted reserve corps and resists orders that would suck him deeper into Gaza’s quagmire. Politicians who speak out against targeting civilians are gaining support. Even the police have grown more tolerant of protest, say activists. The plight of Palestinians remains far down the list of Israelis’ political concerns. But it is inching upwards. ■