How Israel’s judicial reform protesters shifted focus to aiding victims of Hamas

John Yang:

For months, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu`s sweeping judicial overhaul proposals had divided Israelis, triggering massive protests across the nation virtually every weekend. But on October 7, the day of the bloody assault on southern Israel by Hamas fighters, groups protesting against Netanyahu`s government quickly turned their resources toward aiding Israeli soldiers and civilians affected by the attack and Israel`s subsequent war in Hamas.

One such group is Bonot Alternativa in English building an alternative. It`s a woman`s group founded in 2020. Earlier, I spoke with Lee Hoffman Agiv, the group`s field operations manager. I asked her about what effect the Hamas attack had on her and her work.

Lee Hoffman Agiv, Building An Alternative:

October 7 changed everything. Literally everything. We woke up, and by 09:30 a.m., were already in a meeting. And the first thing we said that there is no protest, no demonstration, no protest.

Our main concern now is how to survive this crisis. We started building a website that will help evacuees find new homes to make connect between people that were looking for a home and people that were offering a space or a home voluntarily. So all of our attention was only to this horrible situation.

John Yang:

And talk a little bit more about the activities, what you`ve done, the group has been doing since October 7. And I`m curious if the existing organization, if it was easier sort of to get up to speed.

Lee Hoffman Agiv:

Yes, since we are already about 80 different communities around Israel, then each community was transformed into a mini emergency organization. So, for example, a few women took charge of cooking, a few women took charge of sending equipment to soldiers. A few women took charge of giving support to families who their kids were kidnapped or murdered. We were able to do that very quickly since we are activists. So that happened in hours. In a few hours it was already working.

John Yang:

Does this change in direction signal a change in attitude about the Netanyahu government? Or is this not so much supporting the Netanyahu government as much as it is supporting Israel and Israelis?

Lee Hoffman Agiv:

So there is no simple answer. Most of us, we don`t trust the government. Obviously, I don`t see how you can trust the government. And the debate now is about the timing. So some people think that you should go all in now and ask for the government to resign. And some people will say, wait until the end of the war. But then I say so who decides? When does the war end? So you can even ask me during the day I might change my answer.

John Yang:

Was your mistrust already high before October 7? Or has this sort of compounded your mistrust?

Lee Hoffman Agiv:

It`s the same. I didn`t trust them before. They were really a group of incapable people, most of them. But now we paid the price. Okay, we paid the highest price. The difference is that now more people feel the same way. People that voted for this government are saying, I`m sorry, so it`s not like they`re taking responsibility, but they feel very bad for trusting them.

John Yang:

Before this, when there were the protests over the Netanyahu`s judicial overhaul plan, Israel seemed to be very divided between those on the left, the ultra-orthodox, the ultra-religious on the other side. Has this had the effect of bringing people together do you think?

Lee Hoffman Agiv:

Maybe some are more willing to spend time together or to talk to each other. But I have to say that women`s rights is not a right or left issue. We have women in Bonot Alternativa which are ultra-orthodox as well. And sometimes I can be very mad at the situation that is happening with the ultra-orthodox group in the government with their leaders.

I can be very angry with the settlers, and sometimes I can talk to them and find the common values, for example, of them as mothers. Since I`m a mother, we can relate. We can talk about things. It`s more about opening your eyes and seeing the situation as it is.

John Yang:

Is there a sense that the issues you were working on before October 7, women`s rights, that what happened on October 7 sort of overwhelms that.

Lee Hoffman Agiv:

So one hand, we feel like we`re starting all over. We do know that Hamas used rape as a weapon. They kidnapped children. They kidnapped women. We have, in this war, more women killed than in any other war. Now we`re talking about dozens of women killed soldiers, police officers, paramedics. So you hear about women that are heroes, and at the same time, you have the extremists who are talking about the fact that women are hurting the stability of the army.

And also, when you look at this government, there are no women in the government. You have only five ministers, women minister at the moment. You have no women in the cabinet. You have no women in the table of the decision making, and they are just looking to the other way and ignoring women completely.

Our women in Bonot Alternativa are outraged. So one hand, they will not go and protest and say, what about the women? But we will act on that subject because no one else will.

John Yang:

Lee Hoffman Agiv of Building An Alternative. Thank you very much, and we wish you well in what may be difficult days ahead.

Lee Hoffman Agiv:

Thank you very much for taking the time to look at this very important subject.