Hostage envoy booed at Tel Aviv protest as families step up pressure on government

Gal Hirsch greeted by mix of hugs and cries of ‘shame,’ as relatives of captives held in Gaza vow to sleep outside military HQ until loved ones return

By ToI Staff 4 November 2023, 7:09 pm Edit
Gal Hirsch, the government point man on missing and kidnapped citizens, speaks during a meeting with relatives of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas and missing Israelis in Tel Aviv, October 13, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
File: Gal Hirsch, the government point man on missing and kidnapped citizens, speaks during a meeting with relatives of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas and missing Israelis in Tel Aviv, October 13, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Israel’s point man on hostages held by Gaza terror groups, Gal Hirsch, was jeered by families of the captives as he came to a protest they were holding outside military headquarters in Tel Aviv Saturday.

As he walked around the rally — flanked by reporters and demonstrators — some embraced him and appeared to thank him for his work, while others cried chants of “shame.”

“You are an embarrassment,” one woman shouted at him. “What does he do?” shouted another man. “Go home,” said a third person.

Hirsch refused to answer questions from reporters about his ongoing efforts, replying: “I did not come to be interviewed, I came to embrace the families.”

Hirsch, a controversial former senior officer who has had several run-ins with the law, was appointed to the post by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has been maligned as being ineffectual and allegedly sidelined in actual negotiations to free the more than 240 people being held by terrorists in Gaza.

Four hostages have been released by the Hamas terror group, while a captured soldier was rescued by security forces. Hirsch was a nonfactor in the negotiations that led to Hamas releasing the four, two foreign diplomatic officials told The Times of Israel last week.

The hostages’ families have begun to sleep outside the military headquarters in Tel Aviv, vowing to remain there until their loved ones are returned.

The move is part of stepped-up protests demanding the government and military do more to secure the return of the captives. The families are demanding that Israel refuse any ceasefire that doesn’t include the release of their loved ones. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday no such halt would occur unless the captives were freed.

“We won’t go home until they return home,” Meirav Leshem Gore, whose daughter Romi is a hostage, told the Ynet news site.

“We invite everyone to come and be with us here, to be together,” she said.

Further protests were expected in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening.

Thousands of people joined a rally for the hostages Friday as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with senior Israeli officials in Tel Aviv.

Israel declared war, with the aim of eradicating Hamas, following the terror group’s devastating October 7 onslaught, in which some 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were brutally murdered in their homes and at a music festival, and over 240 more were abducted, including some 30 babies and children.

Jacob Magid contributed to this report.

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