Quiet voices are growing in volume and challenging the ceasefire-now and hostage-deal-at-any-price voices that have so far dominated the news and media. Esther Aviram, 57, mother of two combat soldiers (a son and a daughter) is one of the leaders of the group, The Mothers’ March, Combatants’ Parents until Victory. They want to press the government to carry on with the war to a victorious end, to support the soldiers against frivolous cases against them, and more. I spoke with her on Zoom about the group’s goals and activities. Something Aviram said deep into our conversation hit me hard in the gut and I want to bring that to you first: On Oct 6th, a moment before going to sleep, I said to my kids, “You know, on this day 50 years ago, the Yom Kippur War broke out. I remember it. I was in grade one,” I told them what happened, about how we were in synagogue playing and suddenly everyone ran out of the synagogue. I remember it clearly. And I told my kids, “You know. Today it will not happen. Today, they won’t surprise us. Today we are living alongside them in a kind of co-existence.” A few hours later, it happened. While the group was established in 2021, Oct 7th ramped up their activities. The organization has about 600 members and, like most organizations, they have a small core of consistent activists and get large turnouts for large events. About 20 members take turns participating in the organizations’ daily activities and all 20 women also work, many full-time. I asked Esther to describe the activities for me. We fire in all directions. We are in the Knesset, talking to members of Knesset and ministers, and participating in relevant committee meetings; we take out ads to bring our children’s voices into the public sphere and to press the government when they do not seem to be working toward victory; we show up to the Supreme Court (Bagatz) when petitions by leftwing NGOs in support of Hamas terrorists are in session; and we participate in demonstrations in front of the military prosecutor’s home since she is the one bringing cases against soldiers during the war for Israel’s survival. She perhaps thinks she is saving them from unsupported charges being brought against Israel in The Hague but there is no excuse for some of legal actions taken against our soldiers. I would like to hear more about your experiences with Bagatz. You cannot imagine what topics Bagatz discusses. In general, “human rights” organizations that are, actually, “terrorists’ rights” organizations understand that they have to petition Bagatz to get around certain laws or government decisions. For example, they petitioned Bagatz to compel the government to allow the Red Cross to visit Hamas’ Nukhba terrorists (Hamas elite military unit) in Israeli prisons even though the Red Cross has never checked up on Israeli hostages being held in Gaza. And we have seen evidence of the maltreatment and abuses to which our hostages are subjected. Itzik Bonzel, a lawyer whose son is an officer who fell in Gaza, is fighting Bagatz and fighting for victory. He got signatures from bereaved parents who oppose this petition. When Bagatz saw the petition, they postponed sessions on the matter twice. Another session is scheduled for a few weeks from now and we are waiting to see what will happen. It is likely that, before Oct 7th, the petition would have easily succeeded. We are there to challenge the leftwing ant-Zionist sway over Bagatz. The courts need to understand how disconnected they are from the people and therefore we are there on the benches. When MK Tally Gotliv gave an excellent presentation of the facts in court and the observers clapped, I have no doubt it affected the judges. In the beginning, the judges let bereaved parents and hostages talk in court. That no longer happens. I think it is too hard for the judges to hear to parents’ stories and the parents’ truths. They heard three parents of combatants and then, when a hostage’s father rose to speak, the judges simply got up and left the courtroom. The following week, they just got up and left when the mother of a young woman killed at Nova wanted to talk. I wondered aloud about the fact that they hold demonstrations in front of the home of Chief Military Advocate/Prosecutor Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi rather than her office. After all, her family and neighbours are disturbed by the protests. I am ambivalent about that. On the one hand, we are passionate about what we do but we do not want to arouse antagonism. On the other hand, we see that the left has no problem demonstrating in front of Yariv Levin’s house, for example. We were very diplomatic, behaving like “good children.” And we decided it was time to take the gloves off. When the Military Prosecutor uses IDF soldiers, our children, to have a tool to fight the ICC, we want her to know that she is exploiting the most sacred heart of the people, our soul. For that is what the IDF is for us. I am sure that in your work in Knesset committees you meet hostage families who are pushing the government to get the hostages out of Gaza at any price, who are lobbying for ceasefire regardless of the conditions. What is it like when you meet each other? When we come to the Knesset, we see mothers who are on the left and they seem to be concerned with haredi draft and say “we got what we could in Gaza, let’s get our kids out now.” They do not have an interest in victory. Within the hostage families’ group, there are those who are Tel Avivian types, and they say to stop the war now and give up Philadephi and Nezarim corridors. They are very angry at us. I don’t want to imagine what it is like to be in their shoes. They blame Bibi for everything – Oct 7th, the war not ending yet, hostages still being held. “Of course I am critical of Bibi,” I tell them, “but I don’t hear you talking about how the Attorney General and the Military Prosecution is more protective of Gazan and terrorist lives than the lives of our soldiers.” I ask them: Why are you not asking the Prosecutor why she is charging soldiers and not Nukba terrorists? Why are you not asking Herzi Halevi where he was? Why are you not asking Galant what took seven hours to get to the south. Be brave and ask, not just Bibi, but those who share your agenda because they have also hurt your families. They get up and leave. They do not respond. And there is a second group of hostage families (Forum Tikva) that is more religious and believe that only military pressure and stopping the humanitarian aid will bring them home. Zvika Mor, an activist in Forum Tikva, has been at some of our activities and with us in court. You are fighting for this war to continue and you have two children in combat. They are in danger, yet you are fighting for the war to go on. What is that like? I am anxious. When my son tells me he sees the Hezbollah eye to eye, I am anxious. My daughter has been serving for three years on the border with Egypt and is still there. I am anxious. All the mothers are anxious. But it is very simple: We want to leave our kids an inheritance, money, real estate, so that they can build their futures. It is our duty to leave them a safe and secure state. What happened on Oct 7th and up to this moment -- I feel inside that we are in an existential danger. And that means we have to fight to victory. In conclusion, Aviram told me: Sometimes I feel like the boy who put his finger in the dike. The ‘conceptzia’ (that if we ensure the Arabs good lives, they will not attack us) rules the courts, the media, academia. Because of that, it often feels like our group is fighting alone. I believe in God, I believe that God wants us to do something. And my experience as a special-ed teacher has shown me that even if it seems there is no hope, if it feels like a child will not progress, for example, if you remain determined something good happens. In life, you either decide to do nothing or you do everything you can. And I believe that when you go out to battle and you want to succeed, you cannot be parve [neither milk nor meat or neither here nor there]. We don’t care if others like us or not. We need to face the fact that there is no middle-ground in our battle today. I get my optimism from this: Our whole life here is a blessing. We have little water, no natural resources, and look at what kind of state we have built! When you are connected to God, then you believe that you are here by miracle – you believe in the miracle and at the same time you are proactive – you do and you fight. Aviram invites everyone, not just parents of hostages or combatants, but all those who are concerned about the future of Israel, who want participate in history and not just watch from the sidelines, to follow their Facebook page. There is strength in numbers.
