Uri Weltmann, national field organiser of the Standing Together movement
More than eight months after the 7 October Hamas attacks and Israel’s reaction, our country continues to be engulfed in pain and misery.
The death toll in Gaza approaches 40,000 people – including around 15,000 children – and a humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding.
Inside Israel, hundreds of thousands of civilians continue to be evacuated from their towns near the southern and northern border, due to constant rocket and drone attacks by Hizbullah and Hamas.
There has been growing discontent with Netanyahu’s government, with public opinion polls showing there is now a majority that supports a ceasefire agreement that would free the Israeli hostages, in exchange for releasing Palestinian prisoners and ending the war.
In the long term, the only way to secure the rights of both peoples to live in freedom, safety and independence, is through an Israeli-Palestinian peace
Standing Together – as the leading grassroots movement that organises and mobilises Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel, to campaign for peace, equality and social justice – intervenes regularly in the anti-Netanyahu protests in the streets.
Every weekend, tens of thousands demonstrate in major cities, demanding a hostage exchange deal. We stress that this can be achieved only through ending the war and stopping the killing of innocents in Gaza.
In the long term, the only way to secure the rights of both peoples to live in freedom, safety and independence, is through an Israeli-Palestinian peace, that would end the occupation.
