Jerusalem protest sets out from Old City, demanding hostage deal and end to war

Hundreds of protesters set out from the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City, demanding a hostage deal and end to the war.

Marching along the Old City walls, demonstrators chant, “There is no atonement for a government that forsakes.”

The protesters are jeered by several passersby, mostly Jews in Orthodox garb, as they continue toward the prime minister’s residence.

Before protesters start marching, an organizer with the Israeli Reform movement leads the crowd in a Havdalah ceremony to conclude Shabbat.

She notes that the Jews worldwide just celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, earlier this week, and will mark Yom Kippur on Wednesday night and Thursday.

“Here we are a moment before Yom Kippur, she says. “But we haven’t forgotten for a second that this war is ongoing.”

She goes on to assert that the new year cannot truly begin “until the hostages return and the war comes to an end.”