16 year-old on the importance of the anti-war faction in Israel
While calls for peace in Gaza often centre on international pressure on Israel, the voices against the war in Israel are key to securing peace.
I’m a Polish-Palestinian teenager. My paternal line originated from Lifta, a village in Palestine, which was occupied by Israel during the 1948 war. I followed the war between Hamas and Israel closely, hoping for a decision that would stop the war crimes in Gaza while giving the Palestinian people a home to come back to and a chance at lasting peace.
Israel plans to occupy Gaza
On August 8, early in the morning, the Israeli security cabinet approved of the plan to occupy the Gaza City. Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told Fox News that the plan is to take control of the entire enclave, but Israel does not want to keep the territory. However, a far-right minister, Bezalel Smotrich, called for the annexation of large parts of Gaza.
According to Israeli media, the cabinet acted against the advice of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, who cautioned that full occupation of Gaza would put the remaining hostages at risk, cost soldiers’ lives, stretch military resources thin, and aggravate (already catastrophic) situation of the civilian population.
This decision will increase Israel’s isolation on the international stage. “A complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip must be immediately halted,” said Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The move goes strictly against what France, Canada and the UK called for, when announcing plans to officially recognise the Palestinian state if Israel won’t stop its campaign against the enclave and allow access of at-scale humanitarian support for the starving civilian population of Gaza.
In a statement, translated by the BBC, Hamas warned that Benjamin Netanyahu was “willing to ‘sacrifice’ the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza to serve ‘his personal interests.’” About 50 out of 251 hostages kidnapped during the October 7 attacks have not yet been released; 20 are believed to still be alive.
Most important, however, is to appreciate that the majority of the Israeli public supports reaching a war-ending agreement that would allow the hostages to return home and opposes plans to annex parts of the Gaza strip.
A poll conducted mid-July for an Israeli TV, Channel 12, showed that 82% of Israelis supported a hostage deal that would end the war, and only 12% opposed it. Another poll, for The Times of Israel, conducted towards the end of that month, found that 53.2 % of Israelis rejected annexation of parts of the Gaza strip, while 38.9% supported it.
Furthermore, the Israel Democracy Institute’s February Israeli Voice Index survey found that 72.5% of Israelis said that Netanyahu should resign and take the responsibility for the state’s inability to prevent the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s moderates and radicals
I’m more and more concerned about how the war is changing the views of Israelis worldwide, omitting those there who wish for the onslaught to end. There are people in Israel who are in favour of peace and are willing to do something about it – following the government decision to occupy Gaza City, about 100,000 people demonstrated in Tel Aviv.
“We don’t have anything to do there [in Gaza]. It’s not ours,” Tal, a 55 year-old Israeli teacher told Reuters at that rally.
Yet, social media seem to be dominated by groups supporting the government and expressing extreme views. On August 5, Middle East Eye shared a video of Israeli settlers blocking aid headed to Gaza and chanting “May Palestine’s name be wiped out”. On the 15th of May 2024, Israeli protestors set up eight trucks delivering food to Gaza on fire. There are many more examples, and these situations seem to completely overshadow the voices of Israelis who don’t agree with their government and want peace.
They have various reasons – there are those who believe in a two-state solution, and those who just want the hostages to be released. Political opposition against Netanyahu exists in the Knesset, and although they have less seats, their voice should not be omitted – especially that the Israeli government and its supporters take measures to silence those who oppose it, both inside the country and abroad.
Arguably, making all Israelis – or, what’s even worse, the entire Jewish diaspora worldwide – responsible for the actions of the far-right government results in a rise in anti-Semitic violence.
On November 16, 2023, a man was arrested in Tokyo after driving into a barricade in front of the Israeli embassy. On May 1, 2024 a teenager in Warsaw was detained after an attempt to set a synagogue on fire. On January 17, 2025, a home in Sydney, Australia, previously owned by a Jewish community leader was vandalised and two cars were spray-painted with an anti-Semitic expressions.
It is understandable that powerlessness and despair can cloud one’s judgement. But blaming the whole Israeli nation, or all Jewish people, for the horror in Gaza is harmful, and alienates valuable partners.
Those who hope for Gaza to live in peace have to remember that one of their most influential allies are inside Israel, for they are best positioned to affect the direction of their state.
© 2025 The Oxford School for the Future of Journalism
