Israel took to the streets. Here is why.

(RNS) — In Israel Sunday (Aug. 17), as many as 500,000 people took to the streets — the per capita equivalent of 34 million U.S. citizens protesting on the same day from Alaska to Puerto Rico. All across Israel — Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and beyond — in more than 300 cities, highways were blocked, businesses were shuttered, voices were raised. The protesters demanded a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of the remaining hostages.  The Hostages and Missing Families Forum led the way — the parents, spouses and siblings who have carried the grief and hope of a nation for 22 months. To quote the Jerusalem Post:

“Two weeks ago, we received a sign of life from our Rom,” said Ofir Braslavski, father of Rom Braslavski. “Rom is starving, tortured, and terrified. Jews, underweight and crying for help, are dying. My Rom has no time. The hostages — the living and the dead — have no time. Stop the war. Stop the abandonment. We are a country built on shared destiny and mutual responsibility — we are a country that sanctifies life.”

It was unprecedented — not merely in its size, though size alone astounds — but in its moral clarity, its unity, its refusal to be silent. In the words of Orly Erez-Likhovski, the executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center, writing in The Pluralist:

Yesterday was not just another day of protest. We have been in the streets for months now, but this time felt different, more urgent, more raw. The anger was palpable, the determination fierce. The cry was simple and powerful: Enough! Enough abandoning the hostages! Enough violence! Enough killing and starvation! Enough of a government concerned more with its own political survival than with its duty to its citizens: to bring home the hostages, to seek a ceasefire, to work toward a political solution that will build a better future for all who live here … Our message was clear. Silence is no longer an option, we must raise a voice, we must scream, because this situation cannot continue.

Listen to some of the voices of those who were there. From the organizers: “These are the largest protests in almost two years of war,” said one observer. Another protester, speaking to Reuters, captured the emotional urgency: “Frankly, I’m not an expert or anything, but I feel that after two years of fighting there has been no success,” she said. “I wonder whether additional lives for both sides, not just the Israelis but also Gazans, will make any difference.” And here, in the United States, I was experiencing serious Jewish FOMO. What was my sound track? It was of an Israeli singer named Aya Korem, whose catalog includes a number of songs with inspiring political messages — including two from her 2024 EP featuring covers of Leonard Cohen’s songs translated into Hebrew. (Sidenote, Korem spearheaded a 2017 legislative change that became known as the “Aya Korem Bill,” which limited artist contracts in Israel to a maximum of seven years and remains a significant milestone in protecting musicians’ rights.) First, her translation of Cohen’s “Who by Fire” into “Mi Va-esh.” She combined it with the High Holy Day liturgical poem that inspired it, Unetaneh Tokef, set to the melody composed at Kibbutz Beit Hashita, which lost 11 of its members in the Yom Kippur War, which is considered the highest number of casualties per capita of any community in Israel.  And then her version of Cohen’s song “Democracy.” (Check out this video, which combines the song with footage of a protest in Israel.) The original had as its chorus: “Democracy is coming to the USA.” In Aya’s version: “Demokratiya magiah gam l’Yisrael.” Democracy is also coming to Israel. Israel is a democracy, but democracy is not only a matter of mathematics, of which party gets the majority of the vote, it is also a qualitative matter — the kind of country we have, the kind of values we embody. If Israel continues its slide into anti-democratic values; if the likes of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir get their way, pushing Israel further into racism; if the hoodlums on the West Bank are not stopped, and their attacks on Palestinians allowed to continue — it is not only Israel that will suffer. All world Jewry will suffer. The alienation from Israel will be profound, and not easily reparable. And yet, there is a spirit deep down in the Jewish soul — fragile yet fierce, shaken yet unbroken — calling out for redemption. That is democracy — not just a system of government, but a relationship between people, one to another, rooted in dignity, in listening, in accountability, in compassion. Democracy is also coming to Israel. May it come swiftly, may it come gently, may it come with justice and return, and may it be preceded only by the safe return of every hostage, and the end of bloodshed.