Accusing Netanyahu of faking support, hostage families demand he remove solidarity pin
Forum says yellow ribbon indicates an ‘uncompromising moral commitment’ to captives, which PM has not displayed; at Peres memorial ceremony, former hostage says premier has to go
The Hostages and Missing Family Forum called Wednesday on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cease wearing the yellow ribbon pin used to show solidarity with the hostages and their families. They accused the premier of faking his support for their cause, and challenged his commitment to secure the release of their loved ones.
“The yellow ribbon pin is worn by anyone who wants to express unreserved support for the return of the hostages and sympathy for the families of the hostages whose loved ones have been abandoned to Hamas in Gaza for 334 days,” the forum said in a statement.
“The forum reminds the prime minister that leaders, public figures and citizens from all over the world wear the pin with the great hope that it will be removed as soon as possible, in anticipation of the return of the 101 hostages who were abandoned on his watch — the living for rehabilitation and the murdered and the dead for burial — and that wearing it indicates an uncompromising moral commitment to their return and not to abandon them,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the forum demands that the prime minister remove it from the lapel of his suit and stop using the pin as an illusion of support when in practice he is not doing enough to return them.”
The Families Forum has intensified its criticism of Netanyahu in recent days, saying that he proved “that he did not intend to the return the hostages” following the execution of six captives at the hands of Hamas in Rafah late last week, and his insistence that he will not agree to any hostage release and ceasefire deal that includes the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border.
To that end, former hostage Liat Atzili, whose husband Aviv Atzili was murdered on October 7 and his body was taken to Gaza, accused Netanyahu Wednesday of “repeatedly violating” the trust that the people have placed in him, during an address at the state memorial ceremony marking eight years since the death of former prime minister and president Shimon Peres.
Netanyahu denounced
Her speech at the ceremony, with President Isaac Herzog in the audience, was approved as an exception to the rules at the ceremony with the blessing of Peres’s daughter Tsvia Walden.
“All my life I was brought up to believe in the sanctity of human life,” began Atzili, a history teacher from Kibbutz Nir Oz. “All my life I learned and taught that there is nothing more important than that.
“The current Israeli government has made it clear to us that, for some… human life is no longer sacred. Nor is it a responsibility.”
“Mr. Peres, I still clearly remember your visit as president to the kibbutz in 2008, and your meeting with my son Neta, in which you pledged to protect us, the residents of the Negev,” she said.
“Along with your commitment to security, you worked tirelessly to promote peace in the region,” she said of Peres, who received the 1994 Noel Peace Prize for his work on the Oslo Accords. “You brought two things that we so lack today to your presidency and throughout your political career: Vision and responsibility.”
Continuing, she said that in the years since Peres’s death, Netanyahu had “managed to erase the dream of peace, stash away the hope, divide the people and unite our enemies against us.
“I can’t imagine what you would say, if you had been here with us on the morning of October 7, when terrorists occupied dozens and villages and kibbutzim that you knew so well,” she said, addressing the late Peres. “They murdered, raped, looted and burned, and carried out a pogrom — here in the State of Israel, the state that was established to be a safe haven for the Jewish people.”
“Only total abandonment and lawlessness could have allowed such a disaster to happen,” said Atzili, running through the months of civil discord that had transpired in the runup to October 7, caused by the government’s controversial judicial overhaul legislation.
“Breach of trust runs through Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct,” said Atzili, referring to the charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust that the prime minister has been on trial for since 2020. “On October 7, the most basic contract between a citizen and their state was violated, when the State of Israel failed to protect the border communities. Since then, trust has been violated repeatedly,” she said.
“He, who failed against Hamas and against Hezbollah, stands against us citizens of the State of Israel who support the deal for the return of the hostages and brands us a threat — this is the poison for his political survival.”
Herzog: Save our brothers and sisters
During his own speech, Herzog avoided criticizing Netanyahu directly, but quoted Pslams, calling for Israel “to act more vigorously, immediately, with critical urgency to save our brothers and sisters who are trapped in the ‘Valley of the Shadow of Death.'”
While Netanyahu has continued to insist that withdrawing from the Philadelphi Corridor would mean allowing Hamas to rearm itself with weapons smuggled in from Egypt, senior defense officials have reportedly voiced opposition to his stance, saying that they would be able to withdraw for the duration of the deal and retake the area at a later date if the need arises.
During a visit to the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi appeared to voice support for the implementation of a deal, according to remarks provided by the military.
“We must not give up on any of the war goals. The IDF is continuing to defeat the military wing of Hamas and is doing everything possible to bring the hostages back alive,” he said. “Every hostage we return alive now will have many more years of life, and every terrorist will ultimately be eliminated.”
It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that.
Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
