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Government too chicken to fight Hamas, protesters say

“The chicken symbolizes the cowardice of Israeli governments in the face of Hamas,” said the Israel Victory Project.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Activists who insist that the government isn’t doing enough to fight terrorism placed a 10-meter-tall inflatable chicken in front of the Knesset Wednesday to tell the public what they thought of the prevailing approach Jerusalem is taking towards Hamas.

The initiator of the stunt is the Israel Victory Project (IVP), an organization that believes that peace can only come when the Arabs admit that Israel has defeated them. It is a continuation of their campaign to convince the public of their position, which last week saw their activists change Tel Aviv street names into such monikers as “Yasser Arafat Street,” “Defeat Street” and “The Three Boys’ Street.”

“The chicken symbolizes the cowardice of Israeli governments in the face of Hamas,” said the IVP, which intends to place the huge doll in various places across the country to drive their point home.

Printed in large letters on the rooster’s stomach was the message, “No more being afraid! We demand Israel’s victory!”

Dr. Simcha Goldin, the father of Hadar, a soldier whose body has been held by Hamas since Operation Protective Edge in 2014, joined other bereaved families and the IDF Disabled Veterans’ Forum for Israel’s Security in supporting the message at the Knesset.

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“We need to change the equation in which Hamas kidnaps soldiers and uses them as an asset,” said the father, who has protested many times against Israel’s release of terrorist bodies and other concessions made to Hamas without the quid pro quo of the return of his son and others held by the terror group.

“We need to move to a situation where the kidnapping of soldiers constitutes a burden for Hamas: one which carries a heavy political and economic price,” he noted. He then added a challenge to the legislators in the building behind the chicken, saying, “Israel’s citizens are not afraid — you are afraid.”

He spoke even more harshly in an interview with Channel 13.

“The fear that has been deeply ingrained among policymakers, after 40 years of dealing with kidnappings, has led to a situation where ‘abandoning soldiers on the battlefield’ is no longer a crude word. The enemy has won. You can leave soldiers on the battlefield.”