End war now: Signers on petitions in Israel exceed 120,000
Military officers, police, veterans, professionals
back 43 petitions calling for ceasefire, hostage deal
Abdelraouf Arnaout, Ahmed Asmar |17.04.2025
JERUSALEM / ANKARA
More than 120,000 people in Israel have signed 43
petitions demanding an end to the war on Gaza and a prisoner exchange,
according to the “Restart Israel” website.
The platform allows Israelis to review and sign
petitions electronically. As of Thursday, 120,522 people had signed calls
urging the return of hostages and an immediate end to the war.
Sixteen of the petitions were signed by over 10,000
members of the military, including veterans, reservists, and soldiers from
multiple brigades, elite units, and intelligence branches.
The remaining 27 petitions and letters were signed by
civilian professionals, including academics, writers, poets, artists,
engineers, and other professionals.
Notable figures among the signees include former Prime
Minister Ehud Barak, former Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, four former navy
commanders—Ami Ayalon, Yedidia Yaari, Alex Tal, and Dudu Ben-Besht—and three
ex-leaders of Flotilla 13: Ran Galinka, Uzi Livant, and Tzvika Erez.
Two former artillery commanders, Avraham Bar David and
Doron Kadmiel, also signed, along with other senior military figures such as
Amram Mitzna, Avi Mizrahi, Amos Malka, Amnon Reshef, Moshe Sukenik, Nimrod
Sheffer, and Ilan Biran.
The petitions uniformly call for the release of 59
Israeli hostages held in Gaza, 24 of whom are believed to be alive, and for a
ceasefire.
On Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused
the military signatories of insubordination and threatened to dismiss them. He
claimed foreign-funded groups were backing the effort to bring down his
coalition, which took office in late 2022.
He described the petitioners as “a small, noisy,
anarchistic, and disconnected group of pensioners” and said anyone inciting
disobedience would be expelled.
The petition movement followed the collapse of the
first phase of a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange deal, which began on
Jan. 19 with Qatari and Egyptian mediation and US support. While Hamas complied
with the terms, Netanyahu, under pressure from his far-right coalition, refused
to move to phase two. Israel resumed military operations on March 18.
The second year of genocide in
Gaza has seen more than 51,000 Palestinians killed since October 2023, the
majority of them women and children.
In November, the International
Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister
Yoav Gallant over war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide
case at the International Court of Justice over its actions in the enclave.
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