Protesters rallying Sat. night to urge Netanyahu to seal hostage deal before US trip
With Netanyahu set to fly to Washington to address Congress, Families Forum, anti-government groups, demand he stay to finalize agreement; protest also being planned for airport
Thousands of Israelis were expected to attend weekly rallies in Tel Aviv and at other locations across the country on Saturday evening, urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to fly to the United States when a hostage deal appears to be at hand.
Netanyahu is slated to take off late on Sunday for Washington, where he will address a joint session of the United States Congress on Wednesday. The premier was also expected to meet with US President Joe Biden, though the fate of the meeting is unclear as Biden is isolating at his home in Delaware after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has launched a campaign demanding Netanyahu stay in Israel to continue talks with Hamas for a truce in Gaza and the release of hostages.
On Friday night, members of the Forum held a traditional Shabbat dinner outside the premier’s home in Caesarea. “If you say yes to a deal, this could be their last Shabbat in captivity,” wrote the Forum on X, formerly Twitter.
“America can wait — 120 hostages cannot,” wrote the Forum in a post announcing this week’s Saturday night rally in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square. “First seal the deal, then give your speech!”
Among those set to speak at Saturday’s rally were freed hostage Meirav Tal; Aviram Shaul, the brother of Oron Shaul, who was killed in the 2014 Gaza war and whose body is still being held; Nadav Rudaeff, the son of Lior Rudaeff, who was murdered on October 7 and whose body is held captive; and Yizhar Lifshitz, the son of Yocheved Lifshitz, a freed hostage, and Oded Lifshitz, who is held by Hamas.
Also set to address the rally is former US ambassador to Israel Tom Nides.
Talks to secure a truce-hostage deal have elicited increased optimism in recent days. On Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “we’re inside the 10-yard line” for a deal.
Anti-government protesters clamoring for new elections have also latched onto the hostage families’ campaign.
“More important than the trip, more important than a speech to Congress, is to bring about a deal that will bring our hostages home,” wrote Brothers in Arms, a reservists’ protest group, on X.
“Go out onto the streets! Make noise! We have one mission: to bring them home,” wrote the group. Besides the weekly demonstration on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street and in front of Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence, the group said it would also rally at Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday night to protest the premier’s departure.
Saturday night’s Kaplan Street demonstration will be preceded by a smaller rally
Anti-government groups, coalesced in early 2023 to protest the government’s judicial overhaul, have in the present war been holding their weekly demonstration in conjunction with the Hostages Square rallies.
The war was sparked on October 7, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
Talks for a deal, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the US, have failed to free the hostages since a weeklong ceasefire in November that saw Hamas release 105 captives in return for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
The current round of talks is based on an Israeli proposal outlined by Biden in a May 31 speech. Amid renewed optimism surrounding the talks, Netanyahu has been accused of thwarting an agreement with an eleventh-hour demand to maintain Israeli control over the Philadelphi Corridor, which separates the Gaza Strip from Egypt.
Hebrew media reported on Friday that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was considering declaring the deal “within reach” to increase pressure on Netanyahu to accept it. The premier’s far-right coalition partners, however, have threatened to bolt the government if the deal goes through.
It is believed that 116 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that.
Seven hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 19 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military. The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 42 of those still held by Hamas, citing new intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.
One more person is listed as missing since October 7, and their fate is still unknown. 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.
