The scene in Binyanei Ha’uma one fine Friday morning felt like a cross between a camp reunion and a pep rally.
Organized by It’s Time, a coalition of 60 NGOs working for equality in Israel, and other organizations focusing on Israeli-Palestinian issues, the two-day People’s Peace Summit brought some 5,000 people to Jerusalem with a call to end the war in Gaza, free the remaining hostages, and find a long-term solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In a time when the term “leftist” has become an insult, it felt like the attendees gained strength just from being together. I asked a friend at the summit, Jared Goldfarb, a teacher and activist, if he thought there was still a Left in Israel.
“Sure,” he answered. “And it’s all here in this room.”
The summit was held as Israel began calling up tens of thousands of reservists, some for the fifth or sixth time, as Israel announced it planned a new large-scale campaign to occupy large parts of Gaza and defeat Hamas. Almost half of Israelis say they have doubts as to whether this campaign will be more successful than the past 18 months of fighting in Gaza.
“I absolutely do not believe there is support for expanding the war in Gaza,” said attendee Sarah Schachter, who volunteers with the Zazim organization, which aims to close social gaps in Israel. “Everybody is sick of miluim [reserves], sick of having their kid do miluim, sick of knowing too many people who are dead. I don’t think it’s ideological, but it’s too much sacrifice and too much tragedy.”
In addition, she said, many in Israel believe that expanding the fighting in Gaza means that the remaining hostages who are still alive will be killed in the fighting or by their Hamas captors.
The summit was supported by many international leaders.
“Our hearts are with both Israeli and Palestinian families,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a video message. “I salute the courage of those working today for coexistence and peace.”
Despite the ongoing war and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to accept responsibility for the war, his right-wing coalition remains steady, with a majority of 64 members out of 120. Yet several recent polls show that if elections were held today, Netanyahu would not be able to put together a coalition government.
A poll published in Maariv revealed that support for Netanyahu’s government at its lowest point since the war began. The opposition would gain a majority of 62, even without the Arab parties (which would gain 10 seats).
It is impossible to predict results from polls in Israel, especially when the election is currently scheduled for October 2026, but it does seem that there is a broad center that wants to see an end to the war in Gaza and the release of all the remaining hostages.
Right-wing configuration with no centrist component
“What is happening right now is that we have a right-wing configuration with no centrist component,” Amotz Asa-El, a senior fellow at the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, told The Jerusalem Report. “At the same time, dissatisfaction with the current government is growing.”
He said that the issue of passing a law that would legalize the fact that very few haredim will serve in the army could cause the dissolution of Netanyahu’s government and possible early elections.
“I think Likud will eventually be replaced by some type of alternative Center-Right configuration that will comfortably and naturally harmonize with a Left-Center partner; this is what most Israelis want,” he added.
For many decades, the basic dispute between the Right and the Left in Israel was whether Israel should return occupied territories (the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan Heights) in exchange for a peace deal.
Ironically, it was right-wing governments that eventually signed peace deals in exchange for withdrawal from territory. For example, it was Menachem Begin who agreed to withdraw from the Sinai in exchange for the peace treaty with Egypt. And it was Ariel Sharon who eventually dismantled all Jewish settlements in Gaza in 2005.
Polls show that since October 7, many Israelis on the Left have lost faith in the chances for any kind of peace deal with the Palestinians.
In addition, Jewish settlement in the West Bank has expanded to the point that many believe that even if there were a Palestinian partner, it is no longer possible to create a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, said the whole concept of Left and Right has changed since October 7.
“I don’t know what Left and Right mean anymore – the definitions have completely changed,” Diker told The Jerusalem Report. “There is a large Center to Center-Right, and Center-Left. You can define the Right by those who say that a Palestinian state overlooking Ben-Gurion Airport is an existential danger in a post-October 7 world. What defines the Left today is ‘Just not Bibi.’”
At the same time, many in Israel say that October 7 proved that Israel cannot “manage” the conflict with the Palestinians, and there needs to be some kind of permanent solution. But discussions on that can only begin once the devastating war in Gaza ends, and all the hostages are released.■
