Massive protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the wake of the news of the murder of six hostages by Hamas faded by the end of the week in Israel — though weekly protests will continue on a smaller scale.
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets last Sunday and Monday, as Israelis absorbed the news of the horrific mass murder. Some hostage families and left-wing activists blamed Netanyahu for the failure to reach a hostage deal with Hamas — even though Netanyahu had agreed to terms suggested by the Biden administration.
The country’s labor union federation, called for a general strike, and it seemed the country could come to a halt.
But the Netanyahu government appealed to the courts, which agreed that a general strike was illegal, and it ended almost as soon as it began. Turnout for protests was lower than expected, as some cities refused to participate. “It was a total failure; it wasn’t a general strike at all,” said conservative writer Caroline Glick.
The key in turning the tide of public opinion, according to Glick, were the two press conferences — one in Hebrew, one in English — by Netanyahu in which he laid out his case for Israel continuing to control the Gaza-Egypt border.
Reviewing recent polling data, both before and after the press conferences, Glick said that “he was very convincing … he convinced people who opposed him to side with his position.” She said that despite claimed by President Joe Biden that Netanyahu was the obstacle to a hostage deal, only about 30% of Israelis agreed, while between 60% and 75% , depending on the precise issue at stake, backed Netanyahu’s approach to the war and to hostage negotiations.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.