Israel’s Protest Movement
On August 17, nearly a million Israelis took to the streets in what organizers called a “day of stoppage,” demanding a ceasefire and the return of hostages held in Gaza. Across the country - from Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square to junctions in the Galilee and makeshift encampments near the Gaza border - ordinary citizens blocked roads, rallied, and grieved. The anguish of the hostage families is impossible to overstate. Their loved ones remain in underground cells, deprived of sunlight, food, and dignity, while their relatives outside fight despair with public protest.
Yet as moving as this display of civil resistance has been, it may not bring the desired results. Israel’s protesters believe the government is not doing enough to secure a deal. But the uncomfortable truth is that their pressure is often misdirected and, worse, may reinforce Hamas’ strategy.
Psychological Warfare
We have seen this pattern repeatedly since October 7, 2023. In November 2023, when international pressure on Israel peaked, Hamas abruptly hardened its stance, demanding that Israel withdraw its forces before releasing hostages. In May 2024, when U.S. and European leaders pressed Israel to accept a ceasefire framework, Hamas suddenly rejected a proposal it had earlier indicated openness to, insisting on guarantees that would leave it intact in Gaza. Again, in early 2025, after mass protests within Israel, Hamas walked away from negotiations, calculating that Israel was the side under duress.
This is the cruel logic: Hamas thrives on psychological warfare. Every sign of Israeli division, every protest aimed at Jerusalem rather than Gaza, is read in Hamas’ tunnels as vindication of their strategy. The group is indifferent to the cries of its own people in Gaza, and even less to those of Israeli families. It plays for power, not peace.
The international community, meanwhile, too often misunderstands the dynamic. Western commentators frame Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition as the chief obstacles. Some go further, suggesting that if only Israel agreed to a ceasefire, the war would end. But this ignores Hamas’ clear record of rejecting deals whenever the balance of pressure shifts away from it. It also risks repeating a familiar mistake: confusing the constraints of democratic politics with the ruthless calculations of a terror group.
Failures of Leadership
This does not absolve Israel’s leaders. The government has failed the hostage families in ways both symbolic and practical. Too often ministers have treated them as political adversaries rather than as grieving parents. Just today, Netanyahu said “those who call today for ending the war without defeating Hamas are not only hardening Hamas’ position and delaying the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of October 7 will repeat themselves and we will have to fight a war without end”. Finance minister Smotrich called the demonstrations “a harmful and damaging campaign (that) play into Hamas’ hands, bury the hostages in the tunnels and seek to bring the state of Israel to surrender to its enemies.” Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky, a Knesset back-bencher, went so far as to call them “pogroms in support of Hamas …. In an attempt to prevent the destruction of Hamas”.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has previously dismissed protesters as “collaborators with Hamas.” If not outright hostile, Netanyahu and his government have, instead of embracing the families, kept them at arm’s length, fearing they were aligned with his political opponents. These responses have been tone-deaf at best, cruel at worst.
Such insensitivity is not only immoral, it is counterproductive. The government should have enveloped the families in solidarity, offering regular briefings, psychological support, and even financial help for those unable to work. It should have projected empathy rather than suspicion. Doing so would not weaken Israel’s negotiating hand; on the contrary, it would unify society behind a clear message: Hamas alone is responsible for prolonging this nightmare.
The hostage families, for their part, deserve deep compassion. In their place, any of us would march, protest, and cry out for action. Their desperation is righteous. But they must also recognize the tragic paradox: directing pressure primarily at Israel risks strengthening Hamas’ hand, not weakening it.
The Path Forward
The world faces a broader dilemma. Everyone wants this war to end, but how it ends matters as much as when. If it concludes with Hamas still entrenched in Gaza, holding hostages as bargaining chips, it will be hailed by them as victory. That outcome would endanger Israel’s security, doom any real peace process, and embolden militant groups from Lebanon to Yemen.
The international community should therefore recalibrate its pressure. Aid, diplomacy, and leverage should be directed not just at Israel but squarely at Hamas and its backers. The message must be simple: hostages must be released, and Hamas cannot remain empowered as the arbiter of Gaza’s future.
Israel’s protesters are right to cry out. Their hearts are in the right place. But Hamas’ are not. This terror group does not bend to moral appeals or humanitarian pleas; it bends only when it is cornered. The path to peace and the hostages’ freedom lies not in turning inward against one another, but in standing united, shifting the focus outward, and ensuring Hamas is held accountable for the suffering it has inflicted on both Israelis and Palestinians alike.
Dan Feferman
Chairman of Sharaka | Co-Founder of MiddleEast24
