From the Liveblog of
Saturday, September 7, 2024
‘Shake up the country, oust Netanyahu’: Hostage’s mother urges public to demand deal, calls PM ‘Mr. Death’
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In two separate statements, Einav Zangauker calls on the public to take to the streets tonight, to pressure the government to close a deal to free her son Matan Zangauker and the other 96 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7.
She calls Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “Mr. Death,” says he is acting as “a criminal against his people,” and claims the only way to attain a hostage deal is to oust him.
“My friends, we are in a time of crisis. Netanyahu has decided to give up the hostages and bury my Matan in the tunnels, on the altar of his political survival,” she says in an initial video statement.
Zangauker charges that the prime minister is motivated by his own interests rather than national security concerns, amid reports that the premier is prioritizing keeping forces on the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt over bringing back the hostages.
Masses took to the streets earlier in the week in the wake of the murder of six hostages in a Gaza tunnel amid Netanyahu’s demand to keep the IDF on the Gaza-Egypt border, a core obstacle to a deal.
“There is only one way to save the hostages and that is incessant public pressure on Netanyahu and his coalition. It’s time to shake up the country and shake Netanyahu’s chair! Join us tonight for a long night of struggle at Begin Street in Tel Aviv. We won’t be able to recover as a country and as a society if we do not bring them home,” she says.
Tens of thousands of Israelis are set to rally around the country for a hostage deal and new elections tonight as pressure grows on the government to reach an agreement with Hamas in Gaza.
In a second statement, as people begin to gather for tonight’s rallies, Zangauker calls on the public and members of the coalition to push for Netanyahu’s ouster to save the hostages and the country. She says Netanyahu’s focus on keeping the IDF at Philadelphi is “spin” and that he is cold-bloodedly sabotaging a deal.
More military pressure in Gaza will only kill the hostages, she says, and charges that the prime minister is “prepared for the hostages to be killed in captivity.”
“Netanyahu’s hands are covered with the blood” of the hostages murdered by Hamas. “They could have been saved in all the deals he sabotaged… The remaining hostages can still be saved.”
“So long as Netanyahu is in power, we will continue to get hostages in body bags,” she claims. “Netanyahu must be ousted to save the hostages and the entire state.”
The Times of Israel Community.