Israel
Mothers on the Front: 500 Israeli mums set up camp to call for an end to the war in Gaza
The anti-war protest group was inspired by the influential Four Mothers movement of the 1990s
August 12, 2025 15:38
The anti-war protest group was inspired by the influential Four Mothers movement of the 1990s
August 12, 2025 15:38Some 500 Israeli mothers have marched together to call for an immediate end to the war in Gaza, and the return of the hostages.
Led by a new protest group – Mothers on the Front – the coalition of 15 Israeli women’s organisations was founded by attorney and mother of three, Ayelet Hashahar Saydoff, and was inspired by the Four Mothers movement, which was formed in 1997 and played an important role in pressuring the Israeli government to withdraw from southern Lebanon in 2000.
Sunday’s march saw the women walk from near the Gaza border to a memorial for the female soldiers killed at Kibbutz Nahal Oz on October 7, with around 150 of the mothers setting up a protest tent to camp out next to the nearby Kibbutz Sa’ad.
Sigal Price, whose 20-year-old daughter Staff Sgt Noa Price was killed at the Nahal Oz base, told those gathered: “Here at the memorial we erected in their memory, I, Sigal, mother of Noa Price, would like to express the pain of all the bereaved families, call for the return of the kidnapped and an end to the war, and pray for the safety of the regular and reserve soldiers who have been fighting bravely and with sacrifice for almost two years, and for the recovery of all those wounded in body and mind.”
Saydoff, an attorney, has been scathing in her critcisim of Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of dragging the country into an “endless war” and his government of sacrifcing “the blood of our children”.
Speaking at a rally in late June she said: “In this war, there is only one absolute and total victory... the prime minister’s over his people, over his soldiers, over his hostages.”
She continued: “Our soldiers are falling like flies, and everyone is silent, burying their heads in the sand, betraying their minds, betraying the values we grew up on and raised our children on, betraying our children, who are fighting in Netanyahu’s eternal war.
Saydoff added: “Even the public is silent in the face of the fallen. Six hundred and twenty nine days of abandonment, of lies, unbearable indifference, and it’s time to break the silence about the number of dead. Our government not only does nothing to save lives and prevent suffering, it buys its time with the blood of our children.”
Last month she publicly challenged IDF Chief of Staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir on soldier suicides.
"Chief of Staff, the obvious question is what are you doing to prevent the next suicide?" she asked.
“Have you directed the IDF to maintain contact with combat shock victims? It's time you say things courageously and publicly - the IDF is exhausted, the soldiers are exhausted - and their souls are exhausted. End this cursed war, bring back the hostages and our children home and begin the rehabilitation operation for the army and the soldiers."
The march on Sunday attracted a number of prominent women including Orna Shimoni, one of the original Four Mothers; activist Moran Zer Katzenstein, founder of the women’s rights advocacy group Bonot Alternativa; and Alice Miller, who in the 1990s successfully sued the Israeli military for the right of women to enlist in the Israeli Air Force Flight Academy and become pilots.
In late July, Ynet reported that Saydoff addressed IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, saying: "Chief of Staff, the obvious question is what are you doing to prevent the next suicide? Have you directed the IDF to maintain contact with combat shock victims? It's time you say things courageously and publicly - the IDF is exhausted, the soldiers are exhausted - and their souls are exhausted. End this cursed war, bring back the hostages and our children home and begin the rehabilitation operation for the army and the soldiers."
Sunday’s march was also attended by Orna Shimoni, one of the original Four Mothers, Moran Zer Katzenstein, who founded the women’s rights advocacy group Bonot Alternativa, and Alice Miller, who in the 1990s successfully sued the Israeli military for the right of women to enlist in the Israeli Air Force Flight Academy and become pilots.
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