Father of captive soldier says PM ‘buying time’ at expense of the hostages

Yehuda Cohen, father of captive soldier Nimrod Cohen, accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “buying time” to avoid his corruption trial, at the expense of Nimrod.

“The past 21 months of fighting have been to buy time for the accused, Netanyahu,” says Cohen, speaking to some 1,500 anti-government protesters outside the Begin Road entrance to the IDF headquarters.

“Netanyahu is buying himself time for survival, to deflect his guilt and responsibility” for the failure surrounding the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, says Cohen.

He vows to stay put in the trenches of the campaign to bring home his son.

“Another Saturday night, another speech, more crap and more desperation,” says Cohen. “But Netanyahu, I won’t give up — my son Nimrod will go free despite your stalling. In the end, [US President Donald] Trump will force you to end this damn war and release Nimrod and all the other hostages in a deal. We won’t give up.”

The speech comes as ceasefire-hostage talks appear to have hit a snag despite optimism toward a deal ahead of Netanyahu’s trip to Washington this week.

One protest organizer who every week reads out the names of the remaining hostages says this week that because this is a “critical time,” protesters should try to come demonstrate here once a week in addition to Saturday night.