At Hostages Square rally, organizers counter critics of far-reaching concessions to Hamas

Organizers of the weekly rally for the release of the hostages in Gaza push back against critics who warn against what they perceive as excessive concessions in negotiations with Hamas for the hostages’ release.

“There are talks in Paris and we hear critics, over the past 10 days, about the framework of a possible deal,” Sivan Cohen Saban, a co-founder of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, tells the thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square.

To counter those arguments, Cohen Saban said, the Forum has compiled a video of former defense establishment heads advocating prioritizing the hostages’ release.

The compilation, shown on a giant screen on hostages screen, includes former General Security Agency head Yuval Diskin, who says: “I support releasing all the prisoners [for the hostages’ release]”; his successor Dov Argaman, who is seen calling retrieving the hostages “the top mission”; and former defense minister Shaul Mofaz, who says “there is no victory without the hostages.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition is in danger of being toppled if the government goes ahead with a deal offer rumored to include the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, according to threats made last week by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right nationalist.