Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, at a protest near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem, July 13, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90/ File)
At the Tel Aviv rally, Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, said: “Nadav is alive. My son is still alive. But every day is a Russian roulette.” Netanyahu, she said, will play it “until they’re all dead, [but] we won’t let him.” She said the six murdered hostages died “on the altar of Philadelphi [Corridor] spin,” referring to the Gaza-Egypt border, where the premier has insisted Israel must retain control.
The six could have been saved, and the rest of the hostages can still be saved, she said.
To the newly bereaved families, Zangauker said: “You are not alone. The people of Israel embrace you. The blood of your loved ones won’t be in vain. We’ll do everything to get all the hostages home.”
She said Netanyahu has “put the hostages to the guillotine… He’s the hangman of Gaza Street.” (Netanyahu’s home is located in Jerusalem’s Aza (or Gaza) Street.)
Large crowds of Israelis call for an urgent deal to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, outside the Ministry of Defense headquarters in Tel Aviv, September 1, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg / Flash90)
“The history books will not have sufficient space to record the magnitude” of the disaster Netanyahu has wrought, she added. “Your time is up,” she said. “I, Einav Zangauker, a Likudnik from Ofakim, tell you it’s over.”
She concluded: “This is the time to act. To shake the nation until there is a deal. Go to the streets, people of Israel. Go to the streets!”
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