Netanyahu's betrayal of this country will live in infamy

With more protests planned in Tel Aviv, Gary Cohen spells out why so many Israelis no longer trust their government

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Last Sunday, Israel stopped.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum led a nationwide strike and mass protests that drew more than 1 million people across the country - 500,000 rallied at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv alone. Families of the missing accused the government of abandoning loved ones to politics. Addressing the rally, Ofir Braslavski, father of Rom, who appeared in a Hamas video, emaciated and desperate, simply stated: "My Rom has no time, the hostages have no time." The message was simple. Bring them home. End the war. Now!

The families' desperate pleas are understandable, though not everyone agrees. Other hostage families, along with some of the families of the victims of 7 October, reject the protests and efforts to end the war. They see "total victory" as critical and the only way to return the hostages, even with the risks involved.

I'm not a military expert. I can't say whether taking Gaza City and occupying all of Gaza is the right or wrong move. I personally trust that the Israel Defense Forces will act in a responsible manner. I have my doubts, however, when it comes to "total victory", which, according to Benjamin Netanyahu, is just "weeks away" - as it has been for the past 18 months.

Israelis deserve to have a government we can trust to make these tough decisions in our best interests. Regrettably, we don't have such a government today.

There is no precedent for this war. Not in scale, not in horror, nor in the grotesque failures of those in charge. Many Israelis simply do not trust Netanyahu's coalition to put the country ahead of its own political survival. Not its motives, its judgement, nor its decisions.