Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, who quit Wednesday over the government’s negotiations with Hamas, is not the only one with an opinion on Gaza.
Though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to a cease-fire agreement with Hamas on Tuesday, seemingly cooling this week’s flare-up in Gaza, opinions on the strip are far from unanimous.
Jerusalem Post staff interviewed Israelis asking whether the IDF should have gone into Gaza. Many called for a more hawkish approach; some even asked for Israeli troops to return to the region.
“In the long term [going in to Gaza] has to be the solution,” even if it means returning to military rule there, Tuvia Ariel said.
Romen also wanted IDF troops in Gaza, saying, “I think there will be no choice but to go in. I think it is absurd that half our country is simply not living properly.”
Others thought deploying troops wouldn’t solve the problems but would at least bring about a better posture for mitigating the violence. A trio of women argued about how to resolve the situation, weighing the suffering of citizens in the south and the possibility of keeping troops out of Gaza.
The IDF should only attack from the air instead of putting Israeli soldiers in danger, one of the women said.
Instead of advocating for a tougher response, some Israelis simply feel disillusioned by the government.
“[There’s] not a real feeling that the government is on top of this… I feel terribly for all the residents in the south of the country who are suffering terribly for government inaction,” Levi Weiman-Kelman said.
Others disagree sharply with entering Gaza and urge the government to avoid war at all costs, stating that it would cause “a great deal of damage."
“I would still try to work for an understanding and not go in,” Margot said. “It's a no-win situation. They will get people killed, we will get people killed and in the end we have to sit down anyway... what are we going do, occupy it? It's ridiculous!”
Many Israelis veer to left of the government and want to see compassion for the other side instead of military action.
“Why [doesn’t Israel] help out the Gazans instead if just throwing bombs from planes at them,” Jackie Feldman said. “They’ve really given so little hope to people living in Gaza so that these terrorist attacks become inevitable. It’s time about to get out of this locked way of thinking that it’s just a security threat and bomb them into the ground.”