Netanyahu Must Go, for Israel’s Sake!

On. Nov. 4, thousands of protesters gathered outside the residence of Prime Minister Netanyahu in Jerusalem, demanding his resignation. They bitterly criticized him for his handling of the crisis, which has severely endangered the lives of the hostages, as well as for the blatant failure of security services to prevent the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas in the first place. Other protests took place in Tel Aviv, in addition to countless less public meetings, and smaller events.

Family members of hostages have continued to demonstrate in front of the Knesset, demanding priority be given to the release through negotiation of those taken captive. According to a poll for Israel’s Channel 13 published Nov. 4, 76% of those responding think Benjamin Netanyahu should resign.

Even before the latest crisis, demonstrations were held for months against the Prime Minister, who is charged with corruption and seeking to reform the judiciary system for political purposes. The accusations today are incomparably more serious, including systemic ethnic cleansing in Gaza, after deliberately turning the Strip into an “open air concentration camp” and funding extremists in Hamas (cf. SAS 43/23).

In the U.S. and the UK, even those circles that have always used Israel as a tool for their policies are becoming very nervous that the genocide in Gaza will demolish once and for all what remains of the credibility of the West in the Global South. Thus, an editorial in the City of London’s Financial Times had already called on Oct. 30 for a ceasefire, and an end to the “clear violation of international humanitarian law” in the Gaza Strip.

In the United States, a hard-hitting warning to Israel was issued by economist Jeffrey Sachs, who has become an outspoken opponent of the “unipolar world order”. His article, dated Oct. 31, is entitled: “Friends do not let friends commit crimes against humanity”. He begins: “Israel is running out of time to save itself — not from Hamas, which lacks the means to defeat Israel militarily, but from itself. Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, verging on the crime of genocide according to the Center for Constitutional Rights, threaten to destroy Israel’s civil, political, economic, and cultural relations with the rest of the world. There are growing calls in Israel for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign immediately. A new Israeli government should seize the opportunity to turn carnage into lasting peace through diplomacy.”