At Habima protest, hostage’s mom accuses PM of bombing her son, as Tel Aviv mayor threatens to shut down country

Speaking to hundreds of protesters at Habima Square, Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, accuses the government of carrying out a “targeted assassination” against her son, after Israel last week launched a surprise attack on Gaza, scuttling the ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to bomb Matan instead of saving him and bringing him home,” she says.

“Netanyahu knows my Matan is bound in chains, starved, beaten, with no air, light or hope, and nonetheless he’s decided to continue abandoning him,” says Zangauker.

“The hostages are held captive by Hamas, and the entire nation of Israel is held captive by Netanyahu,” she says.

Zangauker accuses Netanyahu of de-prioritizing the hostages while passing a state budget and seeking the ouster of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.

“Netanyahu, you can’t evade your guilt for the October 7 massacre,” says Zangauker. “The only way you can mitigate your punishment is to bring a comprehensive deal now for all 59 hostages and an end to the war.”

Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai speaks after Zangauker, saying, “It’s difficult to speak after Einav, who can express the pain with such force and spirit.”

Huldai says the nation is at war. “Not the futile, life-threatening, hostage-abandoning re-entry into Gaza,” he says. “We’re at war because the government is trying to demolish the ground we’ve stood on for almost 80 years.”

Should the government overrule the High Court and fire Bar, says Huldai, “we in the municipalities will also know how to overrule and derail the day-to-day life that the government imagines will go on.”

Yesh Atid lawmaker and former Mossad deputy chief Ram Ben Barak gets up to speak after Huldai.

“Netanyahu talks about the deep state,” says Ben Barak. “I say to him: Netanyahu, you’re deep shit, and your entire government is deep shit.”

Ben Barak pledges to enact a two-term limit for prime ministers, and a ban on anyone with an indictment against them to serve in any public office — a jab at the long-serving, legally embattled Netanyahu.

“We’ll go back to being what we were — the best country in the world, the country where everyone wants to raise their children.”

After the speeches, the crowd marches on to the anti-government hostage families’ demonstration on Begin Road, in front of the IDF headquarters.

In the middle of Habima Square, activists have set up a mock “Qatari Embassy” to call attention to alleged criminal ties between Netanyahu’s top aides and the Hamas-backing Gulf state, which has no official relations with Israel. In front of the embassy, a man wearing a Netanyahu mask rolls around in fake cash with ropes attached to his arms, like a life-size marionette.