The Jewish-American rapper Matisyahu kicks off the main weekly rally for the return of the hostages in Tel Aviv.
“You’ll have my voice and all I’ll be thinking is the return of the hostages,” Matisyahu, whose real name is Matthew Paul Miller, tells the thousands of people gathered at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Saturday night.
He performs a song about antisemitism featuring multiple allusions to the Holocaust followed by his well-known hit “One Day.”
This week’s rally, the 15th since October 7, is split between Tel Aviv and Caesarea, near the private residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where a number of relatives of hostages in Gaza camped out Friday night for the first time to pressure the government to do more to bring home the hostages who remain in Gaza.
The rallies, organized by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, feature speakers who demand an end to the fighting in Gaza and an exchange with Hamas for the hostages’ return. Hamas reportedly is demanding a ceasefire as a precondition for any deal.
The rally in Tel Aviv broadcasts the protest in Caesarea, where people shouting are heard shouting into megaphones “Deal, right now!”
It's not (only) about you.
Supporting The Times of Israel isn’t a transaction for an online service, like subscribing to Netflix. The ToI Community is for people like you who care about a common good: ensuring that balanced, responsible coverage of Israel continues to be available to millions across the world, for free.
Sure, we'll remove all ads from your page and you'll unlock access to some excellent Community-only content. But your support gives you something more profound than that: the pride of joining something that really matters.
Join the Times of Israel Community
Join our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this