The Israeli opposition to the Lebanon war did not revolve around a single issue, nor was it consistent in content and emphasis throughout the war. As was the case with the French war in Algeria – and as is perhaps often the case with significant social protest against war – several ideological camps opposed the war, each guided by its own agenda. Still, the Israeli opposition to the Lebanon war was rather homogeneous, embracing mostly people from what can be defined as a non-radical soft left. The majority of the opposition to the Lebanon war was led by, or identified most clearly with, the agenda of the Peace Now movement. Moreover, as the agenda of this constituency was rather consistent, and the time frame of the events rather short, it is easy to follow the development of protest, and identify, define, and classify its key themes with relative clarity.

The Utilitarian Debate about the Human Cost of War

It is clear that the single most important theme of the anti-war campaign, which was responsible for the initial mobilization of Israelis against the Lebanon war, was the rate of IDF casualties. The fact that casualties had a great social impact is far from trivial. Before the Lebanon war, the human cost of Israeli wars hardly ever divided the Israeli public or raised the question of whether a war itself was worthwhile.