From the Liveblog of
Saturday, October 14, 2023
At hostage solidarity rally, anger mounts at Netanyahu
Carrie Keller-Lynn is a former political and legal correspondent for The Times of Israel
Anger mounts at a rally in solidarity with hostages captured by Hamas, with focus turning to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Terror survivor Monica Levy, who lost her family member Mapal Adam, 25, in the Hamas onslaught last Saturday, says Netanyahu and his government are more interested in their own survival than in governance.
“I want Benjamin Netanyahu and all his people to go home because they’ve abandoned residents of the south and they’re not interested in the lives of residents there and instead they’re obsessed with small politics,” Levy, 62, from Tel Aviv, says.
“He wants to just save himself and he’s willing to sacrifice all of us,” she adds.
Levy is a survivor of a deadly 1994 bus bombing of Tel Aviv’s bus line 5 and her cousin’s daughter, Adam, was killed at the Re’im music festival, where Hamas killed 260 Israelis.
Protesters chant “Go to jail, Bibi!” and “Leave,” showing support for the families of those killed and help captive by Hamas.
Among the crowd, placards read: “Bibi, you have blood on your hands,” “We’ve been abandoned,” “Return the hostages immediately,” and “There’s no trust, quit.”
A lone pro-Netanyahu protester shouts support for the government at the crowd, and is quickly separated from other demonstrators by the police.
