Galit Dagan can consider herself lucky. At least that’s how she sees it herself. On October 7th – the day of the Hamas terror with 1,200 deaths and around 240 kidnapped people – no one from her family was killed or kidnapped. Dagan, 56, is wearing a light down jacket – the cooler season has now arrived – and a pendant around his neck that is intended to commemorate the hostages. The fact that her daughters were drafted into military service and that her daughter’s boyfriend is fighting against Hamas in Gaza is nothing compared to the suffering of the victims’ families.
That’s why Dagan recently walked with almost 30,000 others on the final leg of a march in solidarity with the hostage families from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The target was the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, where people expressed their displeasure that the hostages had still not been freed. Before that, she recently protested against Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans for judicial reform. Dagan believes that because he divided Israel’s society, Hamas had an easy time of it. She is angry with her head of government. After all, the collective trauma of October 7th united the Israelis again. “Only our Prime Minister, he continues to think exclusively of himself.”
For Anshel Pfeffer, author of a biography of “Bibi,” as the Israelis call their prime minister, one must see events like the solidarity march to Jerusalem as a clear sign of mistrust toward Netanyahu and his government. After the Hamas attack, the poll numbers of the prime minister and his cabinet plummeted. 76 percent of Israelis want Netanyahu to resign, and almost half of them want him to leave immediately, not after the war. “Usually the poll numbers rise in crisis situations. Not with him,” says Pfeffer.
However, everyone in Israel agrees that Bibi will not go anywhere voluntarily. “Instead, he wages a public battle in which he blames everyone but himself. He’s good at that,” says Pfeffer. The military comes first. In the weeks after the terrorist attack, Netanyahu initially tried to shift blame onto the secret services and military. Shortly afterwards he apologized, but since then his relationship with the generals has been considered to be broken. An independent commission of inquiry is a long way off.
Whatever the outcome of the war, Pfeffer does not believe that Netanyahu can win back sympathy. Instead, right-wing parties could gain traction; Netanyahu has long been “their hostage.” The fact that he was able to become prime minister again at the end of 2022 was largely thanks to the support of the right.
Now the prime minister is once again preoccupied with his own political survival – a terrible situation for a country in crisis, says Pfeffer. Rockets are still regularly flying from Gaza towards Israel, and there are also ongoing firefights with Hezbollah on the border with Lebanon. Pfeffer believes Netanyahu’s image as “Mr. Security” has been irreparably damaged: “He will go down in history as the prime minister of this terrible mistake.”
Netanyahu was already hated by many before October 7, 2023. His plans for judicial reform drove tens, sometimes hundreds, of thousands onto the streets every weekend for months. Israel’s prime minister, who is facing multiple charges of fraud and corruption, wants to weaken the country’s judiciary. The reform plans are so controversial that even parts of the military and a minister opposed him.
Aviv Bushinsky also turned away. He worked as an advisor at Netanyahu’s side for nine years and supported him during the first police investigation against him. “When he was indicted, everyone thought he was finished. But no, he even managed to become prime minister again,” Bushinsky reflects. He doesn’t think his former boss is the epitome of evil. He is nevertheless calling for his resignation today.
What would he advise the ex-boss today if they were still in touch? According to Bushinsky, Netanyahu can only remain in power by admitting mistakes and announcing that he will vacate office after the end of the war. If the war is deemed successful in the end, Netanyahu might even be able to stay in government. The most important thing now is to calm minds and reach out to people. “But Netanyahu is immune to criticism and thinks he knows everything better.”
Unlike some in his government team, Netanyahu has still not accepted responsibility for the security debacle of October 7th. “Netanyahu wants to go down in the history books. But at the moment you couldn’t even name an avenue after him,” says Bushinsky. In interviews and press conferences, far too much revolves solely around Bibi. “The chances of him bouncing back are slim, but he’s a guy who manages to keep reinventing himself.”
Bushinsky also doesn’t believe that Netanyahu will resign, no matter how many Israelis take to the streets to do so. “Netanyahu is a man of steel.” The most likely way his rule could end would be the formation of an alternative coalition and, ultimately, a vote of no confidence. “But Netanyahu’s right-wing religious coalition partners are finally in power, they will not overthrow him,” Bushinsky is certain.
The only chance is therefore Likud members who turn away from their party leader. Bushinsky doesn’t think that’s unlikely. Whenever he meets his neighbor, a Likud MP, he only uses the back entrance. “Now he’s afraid of the public,” says Bushinsky. Not without reason. When a Likud politician recently showed up at the solidarity march to Jerusalem, participants insulted her and asked her to leave.
Nava Rozolyo, 37, petite but loud, has given up her job as a lawyer in a financial holding company and has been demonstrating against the government as a full-time activist since it pushed forward its judicial reform. “We have to fight not only against Hamas, but also against our own government.” The “Brigades of Shame” she created confront members of the governing parties with megaphones or boo them – not only at public meetings, but also in private situations such as visits to restaurants. “We are still a democracy and something like that is allowed,” says Rozolyo. She reaches 10,000 followers via WhatsApp groups alone. The videos of their brigades often go viral. But since October 7th there have been fewer operations than before. “The government is hiding from the public.”
Netanyahu weakened the courts because he himself was indicted. In the same way, Rozolyo now fears that he will prolong the war so that he does not have to face his responsibilities. Even Rozolyo’s relatives, who are actually loyal Likud voters as a religious-conservative family, now describe the prime minister as a total failure.
“Netanyahu has always been a threat to our democracy. Now he is also a threat to our security,” says Rozolyo. She doesn’t believe that judicial reform is now off the table. “Instead of taking care of more important things, his people continue to work on them day and night,” she is convinced. “We are at war, and at the same time we also have to defend ourselves against our government.” The activist feels particularly sorry for the families of the hostages, who are in a terrible dilemma. “They need him to negotiate for them.”
Yaacov Godo, 74, has nothing left to lose. His son Tom, 52, was shot dead by Hamas in a kibbutz while trying to protect his wife and three daughters. Godo blames Netanyahu for this. Nothing can be done about his own loss, but Israel’s fate remains at stake. “Netanyahu has to go.”
At Tom’s funeral he vowed to do everything he could to get Israel rid of this government. Almost two weeks ago he set up a tent on the edge of the government district. Ten beds, a large table, a shelf with food and coffee machines. The influx has so far been rather low, but Godo believes that will change. Many visitors bring home-baked cakes. Only a few complain that the government should not be weakened in the middle of a war.
Godo is unimpressed. He won’t go anywhere until his mission is accomplished, he says quietly. Opposition politicians came to the camp and expressed their condolences. Godo takes a break. “But no one from the government has dared to come here yet.”
