Joe Biden has said that Benjamin Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure a ceasefire deal with Hamas, as protests against the Israeli leader’s government suffered a blow when a court ordered an early end to a general strike.
The demonstrations, which broke out over the weekend, were prompted by the grim discovery of the bodies of six hostages in Gaza, and brought tens of thousands of Israelis out on to the streets to protest against the government’s handling of the war in Gaza and efforts to release dozens of hostages who remain in captivity.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Biden said that his administration was “very close” to proposing a “final” hostage deal to both sides that has assumed new urgency since the discovery of the bodies, including that of Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
The Washington Post had previously reported that the Biden administration was preparing to propose a “take it or leave it” deal that, if it fails, may mark the end of American-led negotiations to negotiate a ceasefire between Israeli and Hamas.
Biden did not reveal details of the new US proposal, and asked why he thought a new deal could prove successful after months of unsuccessful attempts, said: “Hope springs eternal.” But he also indicated his frustration with the Netanyahu government, saying he did not believe that the Israeli PM was doing enough to secure a ceasefire.
Netanyahu has remained defiant over Israeli claims to strategic points in Gaza, despite significant internal and international pressure to secure at least a temporary ceasefire in the 11-month-old war.
The Hostage Families Forum vowed that their protests would continue, but the far-right members of Netanyahu’s government coalition declared victory after a labour court ruling that the strike had to end at 2.30pm local time.
Even before the court ruling, the strike, called by the Histadrut trade union federation, was not seen as a significant threat to the government.
It had only been due to last a day, and only a few local authorities took part. Banks and many private businesses closed or gave their employees the option of taking the day off, but it was not the prolonged stoppage that activists hoped would have an impact on the economy and force the coalition into a ceasefire-for-hostage deal with Hamas.
Public anger erupted after the Israel Defense Forces found the hostages’ bodies in a tunnel deep under the Palestinian city of Rafah over the weekend. According to Israel’s health ministry, they had been shot at close range about two days before their remains were discovered. Some of them – including Goldberg-Polin – would have been in the first batch of hostages to be released under the proposed ceasefire deal.
Goldberg-Polin’s funeral was held in Jerusalem on Monday. Addressing the family at the ceremony, Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, apologised for his death on behalf of the state.
“We are sorry we failed to protect you in the terrible failure of 7 October. We are sorry we failed to bring you home safely. We are sorry that the country you immigrated to at the age of seven, wrapped in the Israeli flag, failed to keep you,” Herzog said.
“Dear Rachel, John, Libby and Orly – I apologise. We are sorry we weren’t able to bring your Hersh home alive.”
About 250 hostages were seized by Hamas in its 7 October surprise attack on southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians. In the Gaza war that followed, Israel forces have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, the large majority of them civilians.
Netanyahu and his allies are insisting on Israel retaining control of strategic points in Gaza, most importantly a strip of land called the Philadelphi Corridor along the southern border with Egypt. The peace plan outlined by Joe Biden in May envisaged a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a point Hamas says is non-negotiable.
The extreme right members of Netanyahu’s coalition welcomed the decision of the Bat Yam labour court to order Monday’s strike to end early. The finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said the strike had been “political and illegal”, serving the interests of Hamas.
The national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, another key hardline rightwinger, vowed to continue to block the ceasefire deal
“Today, we have power in the government, and I’m not ashamed to say that we’re using this power to prevent a reckless deal and to stop any negotiations altogether,” Ben-Gvir told counter-demonstrators protesting in Jerusalem against the Histadrut strike.
The Histadrut leader, Arnon Bar-David, said he accepted the court’s ruling but still claimed the strike had been “a significant measure”.
“I thank every one of you,” Bar-David told union members. “You proved that the fate of the hostages is not right-wing or left-wing, there is only life or death, and we won’t allow life to be abandoned.”
The Hostage Families Forum said that protests would still continue after the strike, in the interests of the 101 hostages still unaccounted for in Gaza, of whom Israeli intelligence believes about a third are already dead.
The forum said the surviving hostages had been “abandoned” on Thursday last week, when Netanyahu’s cabinet voted to stand behind the prime minister’s negotiating position insisting on Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor. The defence minister, Yoav Gallant, was the only cabinet member to vote against the stance, and has called for the decision to be reversed.
About 100,000 protesters took part in demonstrations in Tel Aviv on Sunday night, temporarily blocking the north-south motorway that runs through the city. On Monday, there were sporadic protests blocking key road junctions around the country and another big demonstration was called for Monday night.
Among even the most determined demonstrators however was an acceptance that they did not yet have the strength to threaten Netanyahu’s hold on power and force him to change course.
“I’m not sure the strike was as powerful as people expected,” said Debbie Mason, a social worker for the Eshkol regional council, an area of southern Israel abutting Gaza, where many of the victims of the 7 October Hamas attack lived.
“Unfortunately, there are too many things that are going to obstruct a deal. Whether it’s on our side, whether it’s on Hamas’ side, it just doesn’t seem to be in anyone’s interest that something should happen,” Mason said.
She was speaking in “Hostages Square”, a plaza between the national library and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, where hostage families and their supporters gather every day.
Rayah Karmin, a vitamin supplement salesperson from Mabu’im, a village near Netivot near the Gaza frontier, agreed that a one-day strike would change little.
“Only a longer strike will make the people in government understand that the economy of Israel is going to go down,” Karmin said.
She pointed out that all the protests faced an immovable political reality: that if a ceasefire were agreed, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich would lead a far-right walk-out from the cabinet and the coalition would fall, removing Netanyahu’s immunity against corruption charges he faces in Israeli courts.
“Smotrich and Ben-Gvir will leave Netanyahu, and then he will be without a coalition, and he will have to go home,” Karmin said. “And he knows that next time he won’t be elected, so he wants to stay as long as he can.”