International newspapers and websites wrote that the strike witnessed by Israel yesterday, Monday, reflects the state of internal division and the escalation of anger towards Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, due to its obstruction of the deal that would allow the return of the rest of the detainees in the Gaza Strip.
The Financial Times newspaper saw that the strike witnessed in Israel yesterday shows the state of a divided nation, as the Prime Minister’s far-right allies attacked the demonstrators and union leaders, and tensions increased between the two camps with the realization that time is quickly running out for the remaining Israeli detainees in Gaza.
She said that the killing of 6 prisoners increases pressure on Netanyahu to reach an agreement with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and indeed, during the strike, the protesters demanded that the prime minister seek to reach a settlement.
For its part, the Washington Post wrote that the strike over Netanyahu’s prisoner policy has brought parts of Israel to a standstill, including schools, universities, businesses and flights across most of the country.
In the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, writer Noa Lemon criticized what she considered Netanyahu and his government’s disregard for the movements of the families of the detainees in Gaza, considering them merely annoying noises in the background.
The writer explained that this approach is not new to Netanyahu, “he did so throughout a year of protests against the judicial reform bill, and in the face of warnings from the defense establishment about its implications for national security.”
In the same vein, an opinion piece in the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth held Netanyahu and members of his government responsible for the killing of the six prisoners in Gaza, saying, “Their hands are stained with their blood.”
The article, titled “11 Months of Mistakes,” said that many people were responsible for the deaths of the prisoners, starting with “Netanyahu, who is violating the deal and deceiving the public and the families, to senior Israeli army officials, who continue to repeat the slogan (only military pressure will bring back the kidnapped), and passing through the lenient ministers who ignored the warnings of Defense Minister Yoav Galant.”
On the other hand, the French newspaper Le Figaro addressed the situation of the Palestinians in Jerusalem, and said that they face the risk of expulsion, with the extension of Israeli settlement to new areas in the city.
The report takes the example of the Musrara neighborhood, which is divided by the Green Line into a Palestinian and an Israeli side, and is considered strategically located. The Israeli Supreme Court upheld an order to evict buildings in this neighborhood this summer, leaving its owners waiting for its implementation at any time.