SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Over 10,000 Turn Out to Tel Aviv Peace Rally
Thousands fill Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square under the message: “Changing Direction: Toward Peace, Away from War”
Aug 17, 2014
More than ten thousand of Israelis turned out Saturday night in Tel Aviv demanding peace talks with the Palestinian Authority.
The peaceful rally was the largest demonstration in Israel since it launched operation "Protective Edge on July 8, an offensive that has seen at least 1,980 Palestinian deaths and 67 on the Israeli side.
It was organized by the progressive Meretz party and Peace Now, an activist group opposed to Jewish settlement building on occupied territory.
Protesters also expressed anger at the Netanyahu government, chanting "Bibi, go home!"
The Jerusalem Post reported:
Meretz leader MK Zehava Gal-On said Netanyahu should quit because he failed in his attempts to bring quiet to the South, despite having a "blank check" to act for five years. She said Israel would do better to lift the blockade on Gaza, end the occupation of Palestinian territories and return to negotiations that extend beyond a cease-fire.
"You could have achieved the framework you are willing to accept now without paying the price of 64 dead soldiers and the deaths of civilians," Gal-On told Netanyahu. The crowd shouted "Bibi go home."
...Against the backdrop of the Tel Aviv Municipality building, lit up as an enormous Israeli flag, people carried signs reading, "Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies," and "When there is no peace, war comes."
From the Times of Israel:
Author David Grossman addressed the crowd, and said that Israelis "are losing our home to fanaticism and internal hatred."
"Dangerous movements are coming to pass in Israel because of the despair, the anxiety, nationalism and racism erupting all at once," he said. "Not one word of condemnation has been uttered by the prime minister. It will be very difficult to rein in the dark forces. I'm concerned that the leaders enjoyed seeing the Left held hostage, but this tide will turn against them when they appear too moderate. These processes and phenomena will unfortunately turn Israel into a radical, militant, xenophobic cult, isolated and ostracized."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
More than ten thousand of Israelis turned out Saturday night in Tel Aviv demanding peace talks with the Palestinian Authority.
The peaceful rally was the largest demonstration in Israel since it launched operation "Protective Edge on July 8, an offensive that has seen at least 1,980 Palestinian deaths and 67 on the Israeli side.
It was organized by the progressive Meretz party and Peace Now, an activist group opposed to Jewish settlement building on occupied territory.
Protesters also expressed anger at the Netanyahu government, chanting "Bibi, go home!"
The Jerusalem Post reported:
Meretz leader MK Zehava Gal-On said Netanyahu should quit because he failed in his attempts to bring quiet to the South, despite having a "blank check" to act for five years. She said Israel would do better to lift the blockade on Gaza, end the occupation of Palestinian territories and return to negotiations that extend beyond a cease-fire.
"You could have achieved the framework you are willing to accept now without paying the price of 64 dead soldiers and the deaths of civilians," Gal-On told Netanyahu. The crowd shouted "Bibi go home."
...Against the backdrop of the Tel Aviv Municipality building, lit up as an enormous Israeli flag, people carried signs reading, "Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies," and "When there is no peace, war comes."
From the Times of Israel:
Author David Grossman addressed the crowd, and said that Israelis "are losing our home to fanaticism and internal hatred."
"Dangerous movements are coming to pass in Israel because of the despair, the anxiety, nationalism and racism erupting all at once," he said. "Not one word of condemnation has been uttered by the prime minister. It will be very difficult to rein in the dark forces. I'm concerned that the leaders enjoyed seeing the Left held hostage, but this tide will turn against them when they appear too moderate. These processes and phenomena will unfortunately turn Israel into a radical, militant, xenophobic cult, isolated and ostracized."
More than ten thousand of Israelis turned out Saturday night in Tel Aviv demanding peace talks with the Palestinian Authority.
The peaceful rally was the largest demonstration in Israel since it launched operation "Protective Edge on July 8, an offensive that has seen at least 1,980 Palestinian deaths and 67 on the Israeli side.
It was organized by the progressive Meretz party and Peace Now, an activist group opposed to Jewish settlement building on occupied territory.
Protesters also expressed anger at the Netanyahu government, chanting "Bibi, go home!"
The Jerusalem Post reported:
Meretz leader MK Zehava Gal-On said Netanyahu should quit because he failed in his attempts to bring quiet to the South, despite having a "blank check" to act for five years. She said Israel would do better to lift the blockade on Gaza, end the occupation of Palestinian territories and return to negotiations that extend beyond a cease-fire.
"You could have achieved the framework you are willing to accept now without paying the price of 64 dead soldiers and the deaths of civilians," Gal-On told Netanyahu. The crowd shouted "Bibi go home."
...Against the backdrop of the Tel Aviv Municipality building, lit up as an enormous Israeli flag, people carried signs reading, "Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies," and "When there is no peace, war comes."
From the Times of Israel:
Author David Grossman addressed the crowd, and said that Israelis "are losing our home to fanaticism and internal hatred."
"Dangerous movements are coming to pass in Israel because of the despair, the anxiety, nationalism and racism erupting all at once," he said. "Not one word of condemnation has been uttered by the prime minister. It will be very difficult to rein in the dark forces. I'm concerned that the leaders enjoyed seeing the Left held hostage, but this tide will turn against them when they appear too moderate. These processes and phenomena will unfortunately turn Israel into a radical, militant, xenophobic cult, isolated and ostracized."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.