At polling stations, Oct. 7 families will ask Israelis to vote with victims in mind

Yocheved Lifshitz, Gil Dickmann and others affected by disaster plan to stand outside polling centers on Election Day, urging voters to remember those killed, abducted and lost

By Jessica Steinberg and ToI Staff Today, 8:07 pm
Former hostage Yocheved Lifshitz holds a sign intended to stir voters on Election Day, stating, "My husband was killed in captivity, remember him in the voting booth!" (Courtesy)

Families of victims of the October 7, 2023, onslaught are calling on Israeli voters to remember those taken hostage, those murdered and those who fell in battle in the ensuing war when they cast their ballots on October 27.

Throughout Election Day on Tuesday, relatives of victims will stand outside polling stations around the country, holding signs about their loved ones.

Among those participating are Yocheved Lifshitz, who was taken hostage with her husband Oded Lifshitz, who was later murdered in captivity in Gaza; Yona Adam, whose daughter Mapal Adam was killed at the Nova desert rave; and Hadas Kalderon, whose mother Carmela Dan and niece Noya Calderon were killed in Kibbutz Nir Oz, and whose ex-husband Ofer and children Sahar and Erez were taken hostage and eventually freed.

Also participating are Noam Peri, whose father Haim Peri was abducted and killed in captivity; Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was abducted and killed in captivity; and Michel Illouz, whose son Guy Illouz was abducted and killed in captivity.

Those involved emphasize that the initiative is not affiliated with any political party and does not call on Israelis to vote for any particular faction.

The initiative comes days after relatives of 17 hostages who were killed in Gaza accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Likud of using their loved ones for political purposes and demanded that they stop suggesting that all of the hostages had been brought home as part of their election campaign. Signatories included Lifshitz and relatives of Peri, Illouz and Gat. Billboards featuring six hostages murdered in captivity were also erected around Israel.

A billboard featuring the photos of six hostages who were killed in Rafah in August 2024 is seen on the side of the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, on October 20, 2026. (Spokesperson for the Victims of the Failure)

“If you have even a shred of humanity left, stop using our loved ones for election propaganda,” they demanded in an open letter to the prime minister, seven days before the October 27 election.

Netanyahu has repeatedly taken credit for bringing back all of the hostages who were abducted to Gaza on October 7 and before, without acknowledging that 46 of those who were abducted alive returned to Israel in coffins.

The Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and saw 251 taken hostage to Gaza. Communities near the border and the Nova music festival were among the hardest-hit sites.

Some 7.33 million Israelis are eligible to vote on October 27, with 37 parties competing for the Knesset’s 120 seats. A Zman Yisrael poll published Thursday gave Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar 23 seats to Likud’s 21, but projected neither the bloc supporting Netanyahu nor the main opposition camp to reach the 61 seats needed for a parliamentary majority.

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