The wave of public petitions calling an immediate end to the war in Gaza and for the return of hostages continued last days, as Zo Haderekh reported today, Tuesday, April 15. Several sectors of Israeli society, with more than fifty thousand signing on to back the call originally made by Air Force reservists last week.
Letters were published on Monday in the name of some 3,500 higher education academics from all universities and colleges, 3,000 education workers and teachers, 1,500 armored corps soldiers, 1,000 parents, dozens of former Mosad and Foreign Ministry officials, and thousands of reservists. About 200 released hostages and relatives of current hostages signed a letter, in support of reservists who called for an end to the war as part of a hostage deal.
Protest the war and massacre in Gaza at Paris Square in central Jerusalem, near the residence of PM Netanyahu, Wednesday, April 9, 2025 (Photo: Activestills)
The academics signed on to a demand for the return of hostages without delay, “even at the cost of ending the war immediately.” “The war serves mainly personal political interests,” the petition charged. “Continuing the war will bring death upon hostages, soldiers, and innocent civilians and will wear out reservists. As has been proved in the past, only an agreement can bring hostages back to Israel safely.”
Three hundred and fifty Israeli authors call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war and bring the 59 remaining hostages home. The signatories include David Grossman, Shifra Horn, Fania Oz-Salzberger, Yehoshua Sobol, Ilan Sheinfeld, Zeruya Shalev, and other authors, poets, editors, translators, illustrators and literary professionals. “The prime minister outlined a phased deal but has done everything possible for the past seventeen months to thwart the agreement, fearing the war’s end would mean the end of his rule—and his freedom as a criminal defendant,” states the letter. “We are obligated to serve in the army, sacrifice our children to the ruling idol, but are denied equal rights, mutual responsibility, and the justice and security a democratic state owes its citizens.” “The acts being committed in Gaza and the occupied territories are not done in our name, but they will be on our account. We call on you to immediately stop the war, to return all the hostages home, and to chart a future international and agreed-upon path for Gaza.”
Around 1,000 parents also published a letter in which they said they refused to agree to an “eternal war” and refused to “shut our eyes at the killing of children.” “We will not cooperate with this dangerous concept that there are no innocents in Gaza. We will not allow the hostages to be abandoned, and we will not accept dehumanization.”
Also, three Nobel Prize recipients joined 3,000 Israeli health workers’ letter, calling an end to conflict in Gaza as part of a hostage deal. Among the signatories were Israeli Nobel Prize winners Prof. Ada Yonath, Prof. Aharon Ciechanover and Prof. Avraham Hershko.
Additionally, dozens of former Foreign Ministry employees, including former director generals and ambassadors, signed onto a letter backing previous petitions, calling for the immediate return of hostages. “The recent return to hostilities has not resulted in the release of a single hostage. We therefore demand immediate action to release the hostages, in one phase, even at the cost of ending the war,” they wrote.
In the army, Armored Corps reservists and retirees, including former prime minister and army chief of staff Ehud Barak, signed on to a petition charging the fighting “no longer serves the war goals.” Officers and reservists from the army’s IDF’s Special Operations and Cyber Directorates have published Monday open letters calling for an end to Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip and the release of the hostages. A statement from reservists in Cyber Directorate units said that “in order to ensure his political survival, Netanyahu has renewed the war in Gaza. Former members of Special Operations units wrote that “the Israeli government and its leader are a clear and immediate danger to Israel’s security and to the lives of the hostages.”
Hundreds of veterans and reservists from the Israeli Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit issue a statement calling for the release of the remaining hostages, even at the cost of ending the war, according to a Haaretz report. According to the letter’s organizers, 69 of the 254 signatories currently serve in active reserve duty within the unit. Army Spokesperson’s Unit reservists and retirees signed onto a letter similarly demanding the return of hostages and ending the war, charging that the war no longer served security interests.
Former Mossad members, included former chiefs of the security service Efraim Halevy, Danny Yatom and Tamir Pardo, along with paratroopers, military doctors and graduates of Talpiot’ an elite military program’ were the latest to throw their support behind a letter signed by air force veterans and reservists, which called for the government to prioritize the return of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, even at the cost of ending the war.
Some 250 reservists from the army’s elite 8200 intelligence unit have thrown their support behind the Air Force pilots call who drawing the ire of far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who accused them of “encouraging” Israel’s enemies. Netanyahu called the signatories “a group of fringes leftists’ extremists who are trying once again to break Israeli society from within. They tried to do it before October 7.” Netanyahu accused the signatories of “acting toward one goal — bringing down the government. They don’t represent the soldiers or the public.”
On the next days several demonstrations will be held against the war in Gaza and the occupation of the Palestinian territories. A protest will be held at Kfar Yasif junction, at Western Galilee on Tuesday evening by Partnership for Peace members. Another demonstration will be held Friday afternoon at Jaffa, on behalf of the Hadash branches in the city and Tel-Aviv.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32597
