MK Gilad Kariv, in fiery anti-government speech, demands ‘final and total end to the war’

At a 100-strong anti-government protest in Tel Aviv, Labor MK Gilad Kariv specifically thanks demonstrators, saying they — who have protested throughout the war in explicit opposition to the government, rather than merely for the return of the hostages — are “the ember from which the grand democratic protest movement will reignite.”

The left-wing lawmaker hails “the protest that is not content with a truce, but demands a final and total end to the war; the protest that remembers the deep connection between the judicial overhaul and October 7; and that doesn’t forget that even now, Netanyahu prefers to dance the tango with Hamas and the Qataris instead of negotiating for peace” with the Palestinians.

Kariv adds that he is also addressing what he describes as excessively polite fellow opposition members.

“From now on, 100 percent determination, zero percent purism,” he says.

Kariv says that alongside the happiness at the return on Monday of the last 20 living hostages under the Gaza ceasefire, “we will never forget that this deal could have been reached many months ago… and we will never forget the bereaved families of fallen IDF soldiers who paid the dearest price because of the dragging on of this war.”

“And yes, we also do not close our eyes to what has happened in Gaza,” he adds.

Concluding, he slams the “political police” for its treatment of the so-called “trash bin detainees,” six anti-government activists arrested for setting fire to trash bins near Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence during a protest there.

“There is selective enforcement in Israel and it’s directed at us,” he says, noting the police’s failure to similarly detain people who attacked a Reform synagogue in Ra’anana earlier this year, and the right-wing mob that stormed two military bases last year in protest of the arrest of reservists suspected of sexually abusing a Palestinian inmate.