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Israel-Hamas war: Did Oct. 7 change Israeli left-wing views on peace?
Israel’s political spectrum is unique among other democratic and Western countries. While the differences in opinion between the Left and the Right focus on social and economic policies, as they do around the world, in Israel they also focus heavily on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel’s Right generally believes in Israeli control of the West Bank and Gaza, with many right-wing Israelis being opposed to a Palestinian state alongside Israel. This can be seen in many of the current government’s policies, which have worked toward expanding Israeli settlement of the West Bank.
As such, Israel’s far-right parties believe that when the war ends, Israelis should once again settle in the Gaza Strip as they did before the disengagement in 2005.
A significant percentage of these parties’ constituents are settlers who see it as their right and duty to settle in various areas of the West Bank, and they are usually the ones involved in violent confrontations with Palestinians in the West Bank.On the opposite side of the spectrum sits Israel’s Left, which largely believes that Israel is “occupying” the West Bank and that an end to the conflict can only be achieved by ending that status and enabling a two-state solution.
Aside from the Arab parties, this viewpoint is mainly expressed through the ideologies of Israel’s left-wing Meretz and Labor parties, both of which tout the two-state solution among their aims. The far-left can often be found protesting against and getting into physical fights with the IDF in the West Bank.
Hamas’s massive surprise attack on Israel in October was unprecedented and the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. Some 1,200 people were massacred, with thousands more wounded. Some 240 men, women, and children were taken hostage.
The attack was a significant event that changed the course of politics in Israel. In the last year, Israel found itself leaning Right, with what many have called “the most right-wing government in Israeli history” getting elected at the end of last year. In the last election, the Left got so few votes in comparison, that Meretz didn’t pass the electoral threshold to make it into the Knesset.
Recent polls published in the last seven weeks, however, show that if elections were held now, the new government would likely be largely centrist, while the far ends of the political spectrum would remain mostly stable. Despite this, an N12 poll last week found that 36% of Israelis have gone farther Right, as opposed to only 6% who reported going farther Left. Among the people who reported becoming more right-wing were 10% of Center and Left voters.
Shifts among the Left
Many right-wing people, and a minority of left-wingers, saw October 7 as proof that peace with the Palestinians is impossible.
Some of them, like Avida Behar, came from the towns and kibbutzim near the border with Gaza. Behar’s family lives in Kibbutz Be’eri, and his wife and son were murdered in the October 7 attack. The people of the kibbutz are mostly secular and left-wing, and saw Gazans as their neighbors. But not all of them still hold that view.
Lying in the hospital, recovering from his wounds that forced doctors to amputate his leg, Behar said that the whole of Gaza had to be obliterated. He told Channel 13 that Gazans of all ages had taken part in the attack, and that the only way residents of Gaza border communities could go back home was if none of them were left.
Political changes of heart have also been expressed by Israelis who had not been harmed in the attack, among them renowned chef Meir Adoni.
“I confess that I was one of those losers who supported and preached peace,” he wrote in an Instagram post last week. “For 30 years, I traveled the world to peace camps in Norway, Jordan, Israel, and the rest of the world. I had delusional dreams of a beautiful and peaceful world that is full of good and love.”
He went on to say that he held on to his views despite the great personal cost of losing clients and campaigns because of them.
“On October 7 at 6:30 a.m., Meir Adoni died,” he continued. “A minute later, a new Meir was born. A Meir that repents his sin. A Meir who is ashamed that he was part of the delusion of the delusional Left who don’t understand that we are surrounded by extreme Islam monsters who have no interest in peace and normalcy, and only want to burn us alive.”
He ended by asking forgiveness from Israel and God for having identified as left-wing.
Still, the majority of Israel’s Left remains unwavering in their belief that peace with the Palestinians is possible and sees October 7 as proof that it is more necessary than ever.
Meretz management chairman Uri Zaki has spent his career helping advance the peace process. He was involved in negotiations of the Geneva Accord, which was published in 2003 and sought to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the Oslo peace process, which began in 1993.
While Zaki knew people who were murdered on October 7 or died in the subsequent war, it has not changed his views but only confirmed them.
“My outlook on the conflict hasn’t dramatically changed,” he told the Magazine. “Of course, it was an awful attack. I always saw Hamas as a force whose raison d’etre was to oppose a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I believed we should fight it like a terrorist organization.”
He added that he had been against the Gilad Schalit deal, maintaining that the release of 1,027 terrorists from Israeli prison would pose a danger in the future. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was released in that deal, and Zaki said he should have been a target for Israel.
He also said that while Meretz supported the Israeli disengagement from Gaza in 2005, they had seen issues with it at the time because it was too one-sided. He now believes it had been a mistake.
Despite all this, the attack was surprising to Zaki.
“We were all surprised by the cruelty and barbarity,” he said. “We were also surprised by the failure of the security forces to prevent it. But the fact that Hamas is murderous and extreme and doesn’t want to live alongside us isn’t surprising.”
The surprising cruelty and barbarity of the attack has not swayed Zaki from his faith in peace, however, alongside his belief that Israel needs to act strongly against Hamas.
“At the same time, we cannot neglect the Israeli-Palestinian issue,” he said. “Until we solve it, we cannot live here in peace. The solution will have to be diplomatic, even if it includes IDF presence in the event that a Palestinian state is established.”
Zaki explained the importance of peace with Israel’s neighbors by pointing out that Israel is not canceling peace agreements with Egypt, where there are massive protests against Israel; or with Jordan, where Queen Rania is denying the events of October 7.
“We won’t cancel peace agreements with them because peace is the strongest solution,” he said.
Committed to coexistence
The same faith in peace was also expressed by Women Wage Peace (WWP) member Naama Barak-Wolfman, who joined the organization six years ago.
“I joined WWP when my first kid joined the army,” she told the Magazine. “I had two more who were going to follow, and I realized I had to do something about the political situation.”
The organization, founded after Protective Edge in 2014, works toward negotiations to bring about a “just and reliable peace agreement” between Israel and the Palestinians in order to bring about a resolution to the conflict and “a better future for the youth.”
WWP focuses on the role of women in achieving peace, in accordance with UN Resolution 1325, which says that women must play an active role in conflict resolution and peace negotiations.
“We recognize that there are many potential solutions that have been offered, and we don’t endorse any specific one of them,” said Barak-Wolfman. “We have to sit and talk about it and negotiate.”
While Barak-Wolfman didn’t lose any direct family members on October 7, the organization lost one of its founders, Vivian Silver, and another member, Orit Swirsky. Silver was initially believed to have been taken hostage in Gaza, but a few weeks into the war her body was identified.
The attack has affected Barak-Wolfman’s political views, she said, but she still believes in the bottom line that the resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has to be achieved through negotiations and a political agreement, and that Hamas can no longer be in power.
“It would be in the best interests of the Gazans if Hamas were removed from Gaza,” she said. “After that is achieved, I know we will still have to solve the conflict permanently. It’s still possible, but it’s going to be harder. We’ve been taken two steps back because of fear and mistrust, and it’s trust that we’re trying to build.”
Barak-Wolfman said that WWP was being supported in its efforts by its sister organization, Women of the Sun, made up of women from Gaza.
“We still have our partnership with them,” she said. “We talk to them daily. They immediately called [on October 7] to express horror and concern, and reminded us that we have to stick together and be there for each other.
“This isn’t something they can do easily because they are in danger when they speak out this way. They cannot be too vocal, but they send us messages all the time.”
But not all foreign organizations have been as supportive as Women of the Sun. Meretz’s Zaki said he was most surprised by the “strength of the hypocrisy and antisemitism from foreign organizations,” including some Jewish ones.
“We’ve never had contact with the Jewish Voice for Peace or organizations like them,” he said. “But I knew one of the founders of IfNotNow, and I was very surprised by Jewish organizations. They didn’t stop for enough time to understand. They just see Israel as the devil, and that’s support for terrorism, and they are turning their backs on Jews.”
Zaki explained that he saw these organizations as hypocritical because there are laws against attacking civilians that Israel heeds, but on October 7 civilians were targeted by Hamas.
“These organizations didn’t consider that, and immediately attacked [criticized] Israel,” he said. “They didn’t try to hide their hypocrisy, which I can only take as antisemitism.”
Barak-Wolfman added that WWP has been strongly disappointed with UN Women and the Red Cross.
“WWP is an adviser to UN Women,” she explained. “Their statement made no mention of the atrocities, so that was a great disappointment; and the Red Cross hasn’t been doing their job with the hostages. They should be working on a way to see them, and they haven’t.”
The Red Cross’s president Mirjana Spoljaric visited Hamas’s Sinwar in Qatar earlier this week, more than six weeks after the war began. A Red Cross team still has not visited the hostages in Gaza.
But with or without the help of international organizations, Zaki and Barak-Wolfman are optimistic that peace is still possible between Israel and the Palestinians.
“I never stopped advancing this, even in the last few years when it was unpopular,” Zaki said. “We all feel strongly about Palestinians right now, but we need to be rational and think about what is good for Israel, and what is good for us is not to mix.
“Palestinians need self-determination in the West Bank. This is a Zionist interest because Israel cannot survive for much longer as a Jewish state when there is a majority of Palestinians. It would be very dangerous.”
Meanwhile, WWP is already getting back in action.
“We’re working on a new plan,” said Barak-Wolfman. “It’s only been six weeks. At first, we were stunned and could only be there for one another. But now we’re trying to recover and revise all our projects.
“On October 4, WWP and Women of the Sun had a huge day-long get-together of women from both sides of the border. We called for peace, and we felt so hopeful. Then October 7 happened.”
She added that WWP is aware of the great suffering on both sides as a result of Hamas’s attack and the war.
“Eventually, it will get better,” she promised. “It has to. Even with the setbacks, this will help people see that the only solution is a political, negotiated one. I’m optimistic because we all just want to live in peace.”
Hamas claimed on Friday that it was ready to engage in negotiations that have dragged on for two weeks in Doha as a ceasefire holds in Gaza. Hamas is playing for time, and it is receiving a ceasefire for Ramadan.,
There is no urgency in Jerusalem to do a deal with Hamas. The US is focused on Ukraine at the moment and the chances of a ceasefire deal with Moscow. As such, Hamas sought to grab the spotlight on March 14 with a claim it was ready to release Edan Alexander, a hostage held in Gaza who holds US and Israeli citizenship.
Hamas said it had “received a proposal from mediators yesterday to resume negotiations, and responded responsibly and positively.” This apparently refers to various proposals floated since March 1. On March 1, the first phase of the ceasefire and hostage deal ended. Thirty-three hostages had been released in 42 days. Israel refused to move to phase two of the deal, which would have seen the rest of the hostages released and an end to the war and the IDF withdrawal from the Philadelphi corridor.
In general, Israel has been unable to get a deal with Hamas and has waited for the US to make the move. US President Donald Trump had been keen to see the hostages released, but he can’t wave a magic wand.Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, was able to get the mid-January ceasefire deal to materialize. Reports indicate that he has sought to bridge the gaps between Israel refusing to move to phase two and Hamas refusing to extend phase one. Reports say that the proposals in Doha relate to a deal to free several living hostages and some deceased hostages for up to 60 days or more of ceasefire. This would represent far fewer hostages than were released in previous deals.
Clearly, the Hamas goal is to get Israel to agree to less of its people being returned.
Hamas thinks that the US hostages held in Gaza are more important
Hamas thinks that the US hostages held in Gaza are more important because they can use a release of these hostages to potentially gain something. Hamas said on March 14 that it would release Edan Alexander, whom it called a “Zionist soldier,” and the remains of four other “dual citizenship” hostages. These are presumed to be deceased American hostages held in Gaza.
Reports have named them as Omer Neutra, Itay Chen, Judith Weinstein, and her husband, Gadi Haggai. Neutra’s parents spoke at the Republican convention in 2024. He was later declared to have been killed on October 7. “We reaffirm our full readiness to engage in negotiations and reach a comprehensive agreement on the issues of the second phase, and call for obligating the occupation to fully implement its commitments,” Hamas said.
Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office put out a statement on Friday in response to the apparent Hamas offer. “While Israel accepted the Witkoff framework, Hamas persists in its refusal and continues to wage psychological warfare against hostage families. The Prime Minister will convene the ministerial team tomorrow evening for a detailed briefing from the negotiating team, and to decide on steps to free the hostages and achieve all our war objectives.”
Meanwhile, other issues relating to the hostages appear to be in motion. Reports that Adam Boehler had withdrawn his nomination to be the US administration’s hostage envoy. However, it appears he will stay focused on US citizens detained or held abroad.
Boehler had been in the spotlight in early March when reports emerged that the US was having direct talks with Hamas. Israel’s government was put in a bind with this report. Jerusalem is afraid of angering Trump or even pushing back on Trump’s moves. As such, it was clear Israel’s government didn’t like the idea of an envoy talking directly to Hamas, but they figured they would let this go on and hope that Boehler would misstep.
That’s what happened when Boehler went on Israeli media for interviews. It didn’t go well, and he was reported to be sidelined. It wasn’t clear if this was because of Israeli pressure or perhaps because he was perceived to have horned in on Witkoff’s work or muddied the waters of the talks.
The question is whether Hamas said it would release Alexander and other Americans in order to try to keep the Boehler track of talks ongoing or if Hamas is trying to get a separate deal with the US. It appears Hamas was putting out claims that it was not communicating in public. This has left mediators nonplussed in the US and Israel. Witkoff characterized the Hamas demands as “unrealistic,” reports said.
So far, there is a lack of clarity on what Hamas is up to. What does seem clear is that Hamas has received a Ramadan ceasefire and not had to turn over any hostages for weeks. Hamas is recuperating and recovering and recruiting. In Israel, demonstrators who support the hostages and their families turned out on March 15 to demand that the hostages be returned.
Even as Hamas recruits, it continues to threaten Israel. The IDF said on March 15 that “two terrorists were identified operating a drone that posed a threat to IDF troops in the area of Beit Lahia. The IDF struck the terrorists.” Sources in Gaza claimed up to nine people were killed, which would make this the most deadly day of the ceasefire in weeks. Hamas believes it can keep the ceasefire and not have to turn over any hostages.
It is unclear if there is a quiet understanding behind the scenes on all sides that Ramadan will be quiet and Hamas will not have to do anything in return for receiving its free ceasefire. Last year, during Ramadan, there was also less intensity to the fighting in Gaza, but the IDF was still operating against Hamas. At the moment, Hamas controls most of Gaza and thinks it has won the war. It assumes Israel’s current leadership doesn’t want to remove Hamas and that Israel prefers to claim that it will defeat Hamas but not actually go back into Gaza.
Hamas also assumes it can hold onto the hostages for years into the future, releasing a few here and there to receive months of ceasefire each time and then dragging out negotiations between the ceasefires as it is doing now.
Hamas believes that inertia now favors Hamas. It likely assumes that only when elections happen in Israel or there is some incentive for Jerusalem to return to fighting, that there might be another war, and otherwise, Hamas can do as it wants. Hamas has already murdered more than 1,000 people, more Jews in one day than at any time since the Shoah, and it continues to run Gaza after 17 months. It thinks Israel is incapable of defeating it or that interests in Israel prefer to keep Hamas in power and not replace it. Hamas will have to wait and see if this is the case. Until then, it will continue to float various hostage release concepts, as it did throughout 2024, to try to create short news cycles and controversy that favor Hamas as it stalls the negotiations.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to hold consultations on Saturday evening following the Israeli delegation’s return from Gaza hostage deal talks in the Qatari capital of Doha.
Israel accused Hamas of deviating from the American proposal for a ceasefire extension after the terror organization announced on Friday that it had agreed to release American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander from Gaza captivity.
Hamas also said it would return the remains of four deceased hostages with American citizenship: Omer Neutra, Itay Chen, Gadi Haggai, and Judy Weinstein Haggai. Israeli officials previously confirmed the deaths of all four hostages named by Hamas.
US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff dismissed Hamas’s offer on Friday, warning the Palestinian terror organization that it could no longer play for time with a ceasefire and hostage deal.Gaza hostage deal talks have ‘failed,’ Hamas official tells BBC Arabic
Earlier on Saturday, Hamas officials told BBC Arabic that discussions on the continuation of a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal have failed.
Additionally, Dr. Tarek Fahmy, a professor of political science, told the BBC that despite a lack of movement in talks, he does not believe fighting will continue in the same capacity it did before the recent ceasefire.
Fahmy stressed he believed “there will be no resumption of the war, despite reports that Israel is preparing to launch qualitative strikes” after the ceasefire expires.
Talks continued throughout the weekend as a Hamas delegation led by Khalil al-Khayya visited Cairo for updates on the negotiations in Qatar.
Amichai Stein contributed to this report.
Despite the growing criticism, Israel is standing firm in its attempt to banish the United Nations Relief and Works Agency from operating in its territory.
Since its ban came into effect on January 30, Israeli authorities have severed coordination ties with the agency, shut down schools in east Jerusalem, and effectively forced international staff to leave.
The government’s decision was largely driven by its expanding allegations that UNRWA employees hold links to terrorist organizations.
The fallout has been swift. Countries such as the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and the European Union have suspended or withdrawn funding, citing concerns over neutrality.Beyond the political maneuvering and aid cuts, the issue has added fresh scrutiny to a decades-old debate that remains unresolved: Who qualifies as a Palestinian refugee? And should this status be inherited indefinitely – even by millionaires?
A refugee definition unlike any other
UNRWA was created shortly after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war to assist 750,000 Palestinians displaced by the conflict. Today, its registry lists over six million refugees.
Critics argue that no other refugee group in the world operates with this mandate.
“Unlike every other refugee crisis in history, Palestinian refugees don’t decrease in number – they increase. UNRWA doesn’t resettle, it perpetuates,” says Dina Rovner, legal adviser for UN Watch. “The result? A crisis that has lasted decades longer than any other.”
Among those classified as Palestinian refugees is Jordanian-American real estate mogul Mohamed Hadid and his five millionaire children, including supermodels Bella and Gigi Hadid. Twenty-nine-year-old Zahwa Arafat, the billionaire daughter of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, also retains this status.
Under UNRWA’s unique framework, all descendants of Palestinian refugees “who lost both their home and means of livelihood in Mandate Palestine between 1946-1948 are eligible for refugee status,” regardless of wealth or nationality – a stark contrast to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which removes individuals from its registries once they are resettled or naturalized.
UNRWA, though, asserts that Palestinian refugee status is determined by the UN General Assembly, not the agency itself.
“Palestinian refugees were recognized under Resolution 194 before UNRWA existed, where human rights were not subjected to economic status,” says Jonathan Fowler, UNRWA’s senior communications manager. “In mass displacements, refugee status applies collectively and passes through generations, as seen with Afghan, Sudanese, and Sahrawi refugees”
“Yet, the difference is striking. After WWII, millions were displaced, primarily in Europe, but around 1.5 million were resettled by temporary UN agencies before UNHCR took over in 1952. In contrast, 77 years later, UNRWA remains a permanent institution, even as many, like the 2.4 million in Jordan who hold citizenship, continue receiving its assistance.”
This raises a pivotal question: Does UNRWA’s approach maintain statelessness rather than resolving it?
The debate over disparities
The controversy extends beyond definitions. Critics hold that UNRWA’s budget and staff allocation raise questions about its efficiency compared to other refugee agencies.
When first established, UNRWA’s annual budget was 110 times greater than UNHCRs. Today, it employs 30,000 staff for nearly six million refugees – a 1:200 ratio. In contrast, UNHCR, which serves around 32 million refugees globally, operates with 20,000 staff, translating to one staff member per 1,600 refugees.
“There is a clear inconsistency in how the world treats the Palestinians compared to other refugees,” says Rovner. “If they were under the UNHCR, the majority would not be considered eligible.”
Fowler counters the criticism, explaining that UNRWA’s economic and service model is fundamentally different and of significant value. “It was designed as a sustained relief and works program until a viable solution is achieved, much like the 1930s US Tennessee Valley Authority.” Moreover, he adds, “the value for money is extraordinary – hiring locals not only brings local benefits but also costs 40%-50% less than employing internationals.”
UNRWA under fire
As the debate over refugee classification rages on, Israel’s reports of UNRWA’s connections to terrorism have also dominated recent discussions. Citing its intelligence findings, Israeli authorities maintain that 10% of the agency’s senior educators in Gaza have ties to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“UNRWA’s response is always the same – to deflect, deny, and cover up. They never take responsibility. They claim to be a ‘humanitarian backbone’ in Gaza but promote Hamas propaganda, like it did with the Gaza famine narrative, which has been totally debunked,” charges Rovner.
However, there are also claims that UNRWA is being targeted politically, as Fowler indicates: “There’s a barrage of misinformation about who we are and who we’re not. We share all our staff lists with regional authorities, including Israel, and have never received pushback about specific employees before.”
Despite Israel’s push to dismantle UNRWA, many European nations have since reinstated funding after reviewing oversight measures and accounting for its critical humanitarian role. Fowler points to the recently commissioned and independent Colonna Report, which found UNRWA to have more robust neutrality standards than any other UN agency. Still, critics like Rovner, remain unconvinced, contending that the problem is systemic.
What happens if UNRWA does disappear?
With increasing calls within Israel and the United States to abolish UNRWA, the question arises: If UNRWA disappears, what happens next?
Fowler says that the organization has no intention of existing indefinitely, but it continues so far as the situation remains unresolved.
“Abolishing UNRWA ignores reality,” observes Fowler. “We are often thanked by Israeli authorities, albeit at the moment not so openly, for the work we do, because without us, the responsibility will fall on them.”
The topic of reform has come up quite a lot where UNRWA and the UN at large are concerned. Some believe that redefining Palestinian refugees under UNHCR rules could force a shift in the political deadlock. Others, though, insist not only is it too little, too late for reforms, but that they are insufficient in addressing the deeper issues.
“As long as UNRWA exists, there will always be a Palestinian right-of-return narrative that keeps the conflict alive. Palestinians have to step up to the plate and take responsibility for their own future. Without Palestinian self-determination, chances of a prosperous future are slim,” says Rovner.
Questions without answers
With funding cuts, Israeli bans, and growing global pressure, UNRWA finds itself at a crossroads. Today, it is continuing to operate, even on a limited scale – holding that as long as millions remain classified as refugees, it has a job to do.
Still, fundamental questions continue to go unanswered: Who should be classified a Palestinian refugee? Should refugee status be hereditary forever – even for those who live in luxury? Who should be responsible for the Palestinians? And what is Israel’s role?
With neither Israel disappearing nor the Palestinian refugee issue nearing resolution, UNRWA persists as a central fault line in one of the world’s most protracted conflicts. Whether the agency serves as a crucial humanitarian lifeline or a political roadblock to lasting peace depends entirely on whom you ask.
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