Israel braces for Gaza protests

Israel is bracing for the possible return of violent border protests on Friday, just days after the latest escalation with Gaza raised fears of another war.

The IDF’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Maj.-Gen. Kamil Abu Rokon warned Gazans on Thursday through an Arabic-language video posted to his Facebook page that Israel will respond severely to those who take part in the violent border protests.

According to Rokon, Israel is “well aware that these actions are not spontaneous” and that the protests are “masterminded, managed and led” by Hamas.

Rokon warned that the IDF “will not show restraint” against anyone who approaches within 100 meters of the security fence, anyone who tries or succeeds to damage it, anyone who tries to infiltrate into Israel, anyone who throws improvised explosive devices or Molotov cocktails toward troops, or anyone who launches explosive balloons into southern Israel.

Lt.-Col. (res.) Dr. Mordechai Kedar, an expert on Islamist groups at Bar-Ilan University, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday that while Hamas is “preoccupied by Liberman’s resignation which is a major success for them... you cannot overrule the possibility that Gazans will come to the fence.”

Israel has demanded an end

of nearly 500 rockets on Monday and Tuesday fired by Hamas and other terrorist groups toward Israel. The

bombardment was the largest number of rockets ever fired at Israel from the coastal enclave within a 25-hour period.

Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud) came under heavy scrutiny on Thursday for saying the barrage was “minor” since it did not target Tel Aviv, a statement which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu distanced himself from later in the evening, saying: “The security of the South is the same as the security as the rest of Israel.” Hanegbi subsequently apologized for his remarks.

While Thursday’s protest in Tel Aviv was planned well in advance of Hanegbi’s ill-spoken comment, protesters noted that it added fuel to the fire.

“We’re here to make our voices heard,” said Maya Akerman Bayder, a resident of Kibbutz Or Haner near Sderot, and a leader of the “Protest for the Nation with the South.” She said the protesters want an immediate solution – both a diplomatic process and effective deterrence. “We can’t let them [Hamas] write the rules of the game,” she told The Jerusalem Post.

The South, she said, must be seen as an inseparable part of the country. “The moment our security is harmed, the security of the whole country is harmed. We are one community,” she added. “We want a future both for Gaza and for the South.”

Akerman Bayder also said that the residents of the South have no faith in the government.

“We feel like we’re not getting solutions,” she said, pointing to the seemingly endless cycle of violence. “We’re tired.”

Protesters chanted “Wake up Bibi: The South is on fire” and “No security, we’ll go to Ayalon [highway].” The protest paralyzed a mayor intersection in Tel Aviv, with police blocking off the roads to facilitate the protest.

George Rooks from Ashdod said he had come to support the people of the South, and while his city hadn’t been hit in the latest round of violence, he has many friends in the Gaza border communities.

“It’s a shame how the government has not responded to over six months of violence. We can’t believe the government thinks so little of the South,” Rooks told the Post, referring to HaNegbi’s comment.

The people of the South, added his wife Hila, “are not see-through.”

“I think our lives are equal to the lives of anyone else in the country,” she said.

Her husband said that the location of the protest in Tel Aviv, rather than in the South, increased the visibility of the cause. “If you want to be heard, you need to come here,” he asserted.

Akerman Bayder noted that people had come from all over the country to join the protest, and she felt like the level of support from residents who are not from the South is growing by the day.

“I really want there to be peace and quiet on both sides. We will not give up, and we will not let the government neglect us,” she said. •