At weekly rally, hostage’s mom vows to be PM’s ‘worst nightmare’ if son not returned

Thousands of protesters rallied in Tel Aviv and other locations Saturday night against the government and for a Gaza hostage release deal, as several news reports cited progress toward a potential deal, and as a television network said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the most determined he had been in over a year to reach an agreement to free remaining captives.

Some 2,000 people rallied outside the Israel Defense Forces headquarters on Tel Aviv’s Begin Road, as the Hostages and Missing Families Families Forum held its more staid weekly rally a block away at so-called Hostages Square. Both were preceded by an anti-government group rally at the Begin-Kaplan Junction, known by activists as Democracy Square.

Channel 12 news reported Saturday that Israel was entering “decisive days” on a potential deal with Hamas that would see hostages freed and a ceasefire declared in Gaza. Both the network and the Ynet news site said many of the details of the latest negotiations were being kept under wraps to avoid tripping up the talks or sparking resistance within Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition.

Sources close to the prime minister told Channel 12 that he was “more determined than ever to reach a deal since the previous agreement,” when Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023. They added that the timing seemed right after the blows dealt to Hezbollah in Lebanon and the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.

At the rally outside IDF headquarters, Einav Zangauker, the outspoken mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, accused Netanyahu of purposely derailing negotiations, declaring into a megaphone that she would be his “worst nightmare” should he fail to bring her son back alive.

“I know from talks with officials in the negotiations that you have no intent to bring back Matan, that you lied to me,” she said. “That you have no intent to end the war in return for a comprehensive deal.”

“You said you are committed to bringing back everyone, but you are planning to bring only a few home and kill the rest with military pressure,” she charged.

“I’m not threatening, I’m letting you know: you will have no forgiveness, no clemency,” Zangauker continued. “I, personally, will persecute you if my Matan comes home in a body bag. I will be your worst nightmare.”

The first phase of any deal would likely see the release of only some of the hostages — those defined as humanitarian cases including women, children, sick and older people — as Israel agrees to halt its campaign in Gaza for a limited time. Young men like Zangauker would only be up for release at a later stage, if the sides move toward a more permanent ceasefire. But Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected committing to such a permanent accord, and his hardline coalition allies — who hope to rebuild Jewish settlements in Gaza — have threatened to quit the alliance should the war end, leading to accusations by critics that he may abandon some of the hostages to keep his seat.

“Ben Gvir and Smotrich have made you into a rag, but I know how to handle rags like you,” Einav Zangauker said, referring to far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir.

Zangauker decried “political considerations” that she said are impacting the hostage negotiations.

“Because of the political considerations negotiations are being held on a partial deal and not a comprehensive deal,” she said, while bashing Smotrich and Ben Gvir for “pushing for the establishment of settlements in Gaza and not being ready to end the war.”

Saturday’s Channel 12 report said a key dispute between sides in the negotiations was the number of hostages to be freed in a first phase, with Israel determined to release as many as possible.

Although Israel has reportedly agreed to a temporary withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border, Jerusalem did not confirm or deny the change in position to Channel 12. Netanyahu previously asserted troops must remain in the area to prevent Hamas from smuggling in weapons to rearm, while Hamas has demanded a full withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from the Strip. Security officials have argued Israel could withdraw and retake the corridor at a later time if necessary.

Channel 12 also said mediators were pressing Israel to agree to an all-encompassing deal that would bring the war to an end, rather than a phased agreement.

Ahead of the Saturday night rallies, the brother of hostage Itzik Elgarat urged US President-elect Donald Trump to press Netanyahu to agree to a deal.

“We believe in your strength to quickly bring about a deal. Don’t let up on Netanyahu, demand a comprehensive deal from him that will return everyone and end the war,” Danny Elgarat said alongside other hostage families during their weekly press appearance outside the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv.

The US President-elect’s special envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler is set to visit Israel next week for the first time since he was chosen for the role, an Israeli official told the Axios news site Saturday.

Down the road, hundreds of people attended the Hostage Families Forum’s weekly rally at Hostages Square.

The Forum has said any deal needs to bring back all the hostages at once instead of a phased deal that only releases some, saying that after more than 400 days in captivity, they are all “humanitarian” cases.

Captivity survivor Sharon Alony Cunio, whose husband David Cunio is still in Gaza, said Israel “must not aim for a partial deal — a deal that sentences those left behind to death.”

“A partial deal is a hole in the heart of this country,” she said. “A partial deal says we are willing to abandon David and all the other men there.”

“They are no less important, no less human,” she added.

She said the moment she was separated from her husband during last November’s truce-hostage deal was “the hardest moment of my life.”

“David looked me in the eye and said in his most frightened voice: ‘Sharon, don’t give up on me, fight for me,'” she said. “I promised him then, and I promise him now.”

Itzik Horn, the father of hostages Yair and Eitan, railed against ministers who have deemed a hostage deal a “surrender agreement.”

“It’s easy to say that when your children are sitting around the table with you,” he said. “My children have been languishing for 14 months in Gaza’s tunnels.”

“Anything that doesn’t bring them home now is a surrender,” he added.

Noting next week’s celebration of Hanukkah and its miracle, he continued: “I don’t want a miracle. I want the State of Israel, which abandoned its citizens on October 7, and has continued abandoning them for more than 14 months, to regain its senses and fulfill its first and foremost moral duty — to bring its citizens home now.”

Ahead of that protest, some 1,000 anti-government protesters crammed into the Begin-Kaplan Junction, also known as Democracy Square.

Stages were set up there, with speakers perorating against the government in tandem, each with their own take on how it was threatening democracy.

On one stage, set up by a group registering volunteers to engage in non-violent civil disobedience against the government, a speaker said those signing up would be instructed at a moment’s notice on a location where they were to sit and disrupt traffic, possibly for days on end. He estimated that would come if the government ousts Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara or Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.

A growing number of coalition lawmakers and cabinet ministers have called for Baharav-Miara’s ouster due to frustration with her refusal to defend various controversial and unprecedented measures the government seeks to advance, but which she has determined would be against the law.

Netanyahu’s office denied reports last month that he was planning to fire the Shin Bet’s Bar.

Weekly protests also took place in Jerusalem, Haifa, Beersheba and other cities and intersections around the country.

Outside the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, Maayan Sherman, the mother of fallen IDF soldier Ron Sherman whose remains were recovered in January, called on President Isaac Herzog “to not stand on the side and act for the release of hostages now.”

According to the Ynet news site, former retired IAF Brig. Gen. Amir Haskel and leading protest figure was arrested in Jerusalem. Police said they arrested a total of four people at the rally in Jerusalem, two for disrupting public order, and two others for trying to prevent police from carrying out one of the arrests.

אמיר השכל נעצר והוכנס בכוח לניידת על ידי שוטרים בכירים

ירושלים 14/12/2024

צילום: גיל לוין pic.twitter.com/X539y2LCgy

— אלימות ישראל (@Alimut_Israel) December 14, 2024

The Ynet news site reported hundreds of anti-government protesters marching in support of the hostages and against government attempts to revive judicial overhaul legislation in Rehovot, while 1,000 protesters blocked the Karkur Junction in northern Israel.

Meanwhile, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi discussed the efforts to reach a deal with visiting US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk, his office said Saturday. This comes a day after Sullivan told Channel 12 news that regional developments, including the shock collapse of the Assad regime, the ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel’s killing of Hamas leaders, presented an opportunity for a deal to free the 100 captives held in Gaza.