From the Liveblog of
Saturday, April 13, 2024
Hostage’s brother blasts PM’s ’empty slogans about total victory’ at anti-gov’t Jerusalem rally
A crowd of hundreds of protesters outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence are currently booing the government amid growing disillusionment with the country’s leadership.
“The time for the hostages isn’t short, it has run out,” Hostages and Missing Families Forum organizer Tom Barkai says. “We know that they are dying there.”
The protest is taking place in the wake of news from negotiations in Cairo that Hamas does not have 40 living hostages that meet the requirements for release, prompting fears that more hostages may be dead than previously assumed.
“The responsibility has been on you for 190 days, and you aren’t taking the responsibility,” continues Barkai.
Nisan Calderon, the brother of Ofer Calderon, whom Hamas kidnapped from Nir Oz on October 7, tells the crowd that the more time passes, the fewer hostages will be left alive.
“I dreamed about sitting with my brother at the Passover Seder table. Benjamin Netanyahu, you shattered this dream by blocking the deal from going through, out of your personal interests and empty slogans about total victory,” says Calderon.
