Protests and strike in Israel will put little pressure on Netanyahu’s government, say observers

Even as protests broke out in Israel and a strike threatened to stop the country from functioning, only Washington has the power to put pressure on Israeli leaders to agree to a ceasefire deal with Palestinian militant group Hamas, observers said on Monday (Sep 2).
Washington’s involvement would also be needed to rein in Israel’s actions in the West Bank, where raids have continued for almost a week, the observers said. 
Israelis took to the streets on Sunday and began a general strike on Monday in the hopes of forcing their government to accept the plan that would free Israeli captives, following the death of six hostages in Gaza.
Israel recovered the bodies of the hostages, including a 23-year-old Israeli-American, from a tunnel in Gaza where they were killed shortly before its troops reached them
While the demonstrations are the largest of their kind and the pressure is “unprecedented”, these actions are likely to have a limited impact, said politics professor Stephen Zunes from the University of San Francisco.
“The problem is that the other way of bringing pressure – that is, from the United States – has not been forthcoming,” he told CNA’s Asia First. 
On Jul 2, Hamas issued its response to the outline ceasefire plan announced by United States President Joe Biden on May 30. 
The details of Hamas’s response have not been made public, but it is believed to have agreed to drop its demand for a complete end to the war, which has been a sticking point in negotiations. 
Politics appear to be stopping Israel from accepting the deal, said Zunes.
Israeli hostages’ families have for months accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prioritising his own political survival and victory against Hamas over a deal that would bring their loved ones home.
“Netanyahu is just holding on because he realises the longer the war goes, the longer he’ll be in power. He’d certainly lose any election that would immediately follow a ceasefire,” said Zunes.
“Then, he could head to jail because he’s under multiple indictments for various (forms of) corruption, so it’s appearing more and more that Netanyahu is playing with the lives of both Palestinians and Israelis in his desperate effort to remain in power and stay out of prison.”
However, political support for him remains strong, said Bob Bowker, honorary professional fellow at the Australian National University’s Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies.
He said that although the actions by citizens take the political pressure on Netanyahu up “another notch or two”, they do not destroy the political base on which he is standing – the support of the far right.
“It takes more than street demonstrations and strikes to unsettle the hold that he has on power,” Bowker added.
Speaking to CNA938’s Asia First on Monday about the West Bank, which has been the target of destructive Israeli raids against Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad, Bowker said the only way Israel will rein in its behaviour is if the US exerts pressure directly to demonstrate that Israel’s conduct “will have significant costs”.
The West Bank raids have drawn international calls for a halt.
However, Bowker, who is the former Australian Ambassador to Jordan, Egypt and Syria, noted that there is “no indication of any political will” from both the US Democrats and the Republicans to put such pressure on Israel, especially with the presidential election coming up in November. 
“It’s just unthinkable that the United States would threaten to withdraw support for Israel in terms of arms supplies, or support for Israel in the United Nations General Assembly – all of those factors that have helped to lead us into this dire mess,” he said.
Regardless of the US’ actions, the “real problem” about the war is what is happening within Israel itself, said Bowker.
“There is almost no evidence that Israelis generally are concerned about the death and the destruction that has been inflicted upon Gaza,” he added.
Bowker noted that while Israelis want the hostages released and are bitterly critical of Netanyahu for not accepting a ceasefire deal in July which would have seen the hostages freed, they have not shown a desire for their government to stop prosecuting the Gaza war.
The war started on Oct 7 last year after Hamas-led fighters stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 captives, according to Israeli tallies. 
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory campaign since the start of the war, according to the Gaza health ministry.