Hostage’s mom barred from Knesset for second week in a row for ‘violating order’
After Einav Zangauker prevented entry, Knesset Speaker Ohana invites her to meeting; hostage families forum lambasts Knesset, says ‘every family member must be allowed to cry out’
Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker and a prominent voice in the fight to secure a deal for the release of those held captive in the Gaza Strip, was prevented from entering the Knesset on Monday morning, for the second week in a row.
She arrived at the Knesset in Jerusalem accompanied by opposition lawmakers but was not permitted to enter.
Last week, Zangauker was also barred entry, which the Knesset Spokesperson’s Office said was because she has, “despite her repeated promises, continued to seriously violate order.”
In a statement, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum demanded Zanguaker be permitted to enter the parliament, saying: “Every family member must be allowed to cry out for themselves and their family members in front of the decision-makers and elected officials who are responsible for the fate of the 100 hostages.”
After the incident on Monday, Zangauker said: “I want to enter the House of the People, I am part of the people.”
“The prime minister is afraid to sign a comprehensive deal in exchange for ending the war because he knows that it will end up costing him the coalition. But that can’t happen on my child’s back. We are going for a partial deal to continue the survival of this government. There are few hostages like my Matan, who are still breathing after all this time,” she said.
Zangauker was referring to the current hostage-ceasefire negotiations, which have largely revolved around a proposed three-stage deal in which “humanitarian” cases, including women, children and the infirm, would be released first, followed by Israeli men of fighting age and then the remains of those killed during the October 7 onslaught or while in captivity.
Under those parameters, Matan Zangauker would not be released in the first phase of the deal.
After the incident, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana called Zangauker and invited her to meet with him to discuss the repeated bans. The meeting is scheduled to take place Tuesday.
Ohana’s invitation came after opposition members of the Knesset Presidium, a key decision-making organ of the legislature, chastised the Knesset speaker for backing the Knesset Guard’s decision to bar Zangauker from the building.
Deputy Speaker Orit Farkash-Hacohen said the Knesset Guard’s conduct was “terrible cruelty,” lambasting the decision to ban Zangauker, saying: “What if it were your son? And they weren’t allowing you to have your voice heard for him?”
At the end of a stormy meeting, Ohana said he would reevaluate the issue, followed shortly afterward by his call to Zangauker to invite her to meet with him.
“The phone call was conducted in a positive and respectful atmosphere,” Ohana’s office said.
Last month, Hamas released a propaganda video showing the first sign of life from Matan Zangauker, 14 months after he was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz alongside his girlfriend, Ilana Gritzewsky, who was released in late November 2023 as part of a weeklong truce deal.
In the likely coerced propaganda video, Matan said he and his fellow captives “die 1,000 deaths every day” and that he has seen how active his mother has been in working to bring him home.
The hostages were abducted from Israel on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Of the 251 hostages taken to Gaza that day, 96 remain in captivity, many of them no longer alive.
