Almost half of Israelis 'worried over erosion' of Jewish state's standing on international stage

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00:00 During the last 24 hours, Israel has seen some of the largest anti-government protests

00:05 in months.

00:06 Tens of thousands of people gathered in central Jerusalem on Sunday, calling on the government

00:09 to reach a ceasefire deal and free the dozens of hostages who are still being held in Gaza.

00:14 They also called for early elections.

00:16 Bras 24's Emerald Maxwell filed this report for us.

00:21 Nearly six months into the war, Israeli protesters have lost patience with their Prime Minister.

00:27 They're camping out in front of the Knesset for four days, after taking to the streets

00:32 on Sunday in the largest anti-government protest since the start of the conflict.

00:36 "Bibi, it's your time, we don't want you."

00:42 "I'm doing what I've been doing for the last four months.

00:48 I'm asking politely to Mr. Netanyahu to go away."

00:54 "We cannot imagine him not being replaced because he is driving us to the abyss.

01:02 If good leaders or a new coalition is not taking over, we are doomed."

01:10 After putting up a united front following October 7th, cracks in Israeli society are

01:15 re-emerging.

01:16 Benjamin Netanyahu has not delivered on his promises of destroying Hamas and bringing

01:21 all the hostages home.

01:23 Some 100 Israelis and the remains of 30 others are believed to still be detained.

01:28 Many hostages' families had refrained from publicly denouncing the Prime Minister and

01:32 the attack's aftermath, but now believe time is running out and are calling for a ceasefire.

01:39 "I'm in favour of a comprehensive deal, not just a humanitarian deal and stop at that.

01:44 I'm in favour of a deal that will free everyone, a deal in stages.

01:49 I'm happy for those who were released, yet my heart is broken that her daughter was murdered

01:53 and her body is still in Gaza and we're unable to bring her home to be buried in Israel."

02:00 Netanyahu is also facing a series of corruption charges which are slowly making their way

02:05 through the courts.

02:06 And protesters say his decisions appear to be focused on political survival over the

02:10 national interest.

02:12 Unless his government falls apart sooner, Netanyahu won't face elections until spring

02:17 of 2026.

02:18 Let's get some more analysis.

02:21 We can speak now to Arik Rudnitsky, who is project manager at the Moshe Dayan Centre

02:25 at Tel Aviv University, also a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute in Jerusalem.

02:30 Dr Rudnitsky, just to quote one person in that report, "We are doomed," he said, referring

02:38 there to the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu.

02:40 How widely held is that kind of opinion?

02:44 Well, I think that the last two weeks actually witnessed two new developments that took place

02:51 that are not necessarily connected to one another, but they both have a profound impact

02:56 on the political stability and also on the public mood in Israel.

03:01 The one is the failure last month of the talks or the indirect negotiations between Israel

03:06 and Hamas in Qatar.

03:08 And the other is the internal political crisis of the government of Netanyahu as a result

03:13 of the failure or the ruling of the Supreme Court in Israel to recruit ultra-orthodox

03:22 religious young men.

03:24 Now, the first development actually took, it made many dozens of thousands of people

03:32 to go to the streets in protesting that actually Israel did not make all its or did not exhaust

03:39 all its efforts to fulfill and complete a deal with Hamas.

03:45 And the price, I think that the price is on the table, but the problem is that Hamas also

03:50 demands that a complete ceasefire and end of war.

03:55 But also within the protest movement itself, we can hear different voices.

04:01 Now, for instance, we hear a voice that actually represents the interest or the pure interest

04:07 of the families of the hostages themselves that say that we should not, we should not

04:12 put the politics into this game.

04:15 Our cause is humanitarian.

04:18 We want the consensus in the Israeli public.

04:21 And actually, they oppose those who actually have some political motives.

04:25 They're calling upon early elections that should take place in the next couple of months.

04:35 So I think that there are many voices, but no one can rule out that the amount of rage

04:43 among the Israeli public at large, I think that the pictures, what we see on the screen

04:48 right now actually tells a true story.

04:50 Yeah, I mean, Mr. Netanyahu faces a litany of corruption charges and some cynics say

04:57 that it's not in his interest to end the war because when the music stops, he'll go to

05:01 prison.

05:02 Is that a fair assessment?

05:05 I'm aware of such cynics' analysis.

05:09 Actually, I don't tend to accept such statements.

05:15 Of course, they are quite cynic.

05:17 And I don't believe that actually Netanyahu has an interest to prolong the war.

05:22 No prime minister in Israel has an interest to prolong the war.

05:26 The war is complicated.

05:28 And I think that this complex is also evident in the Israeli public.

05:33 So this is one thing.

05:36 Another thing is that the decision is not in the hands of Netanyahu alone.

05:40 With all due respect, Netanyahu is the prime minister, but he has a cabinet, he has a minister,

05:46 we have a wide cabinet today, including also Benny Gantz and Eisenhower.

05:52 So there are many opinions and the decision is not in the head, decision making is not

05:56 only in the hands of the prime minister.

05:59 So the divisions are evident and reflected in the public opinion.

06:04 Now, what we see according to recent public opinion polls by the Israel Democracy Institute,

06:10 we see, for instance, that 49 percent in the recent poll conducted two weeks ago said that

06:16 Israel should act according to its own interests, while 43 percent say that, well, Israel should

06:22 take into consideration the pressure or the interest, mutual interest with the U.S.

06:27 So the picture is complicated.

06:30 On another poll, we heard that some 70 percent of the general Israeli public support or understand

06:40 the need for a military campaign in Rafah.

06:43 So I think that the picture is complex, but the growing rage against the conduct of the

06:51 government is quite evident.

06:53 Yeah.

06:54 And I just want to ask you one last question.

06:55 I mean, how worried are the average people in Israel about the state of relations between

07:03 Israel and Washington?

07:04 Because it appears that things have got pretty antagonistic between Benjamin Netanyahu and

07:11 the president, Joe Biden, and his regime.

07:15 What do people there say about that?

07:19 I think this is one of the most complicated issues.

07:22 Of course, you will hear various opinions here and there.

07:26 It also depends on the political orientation.

07:29 For instance, voters who voted for the coalition, support for the coalition from the right wing

07:35 supporters actually justifies, they tend to justify Israel's stance and the attitude that

07:43 Israel should actually promote its own interests.

07:48 And the interest with the U.S. actually comes in second place.

07:51 But on the other hand, we see large proportion in the public, more than 40 percent, according

08:01 to the recent poll by the Israel Democracy Institute, are worried to some extent or to

08:06 a large extent from the erosion of Israel's position on the international level.

08:12 So the picture is complex.

08:16 Take all this into consideration with the calls upon to early elections.

08:23 And I think that many, many things are going to put on the table, to be put on the table

08:29 if or should early elections should be called here in Israel.

08:33 Okay, we're going to have to see if we're out of time.

08:35 Dr. Arik Rudnicki, thank you very much indeed for speaking to us on France 24.

08:39 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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