Outside White House, hostage’s relatives urge Trump to ensure Netanyahu sees deal through

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

Hostage Matan Zangauker's girlfriend Ilana Gritzewsky, right, and mother Einav Zangauker, second from left dressed in white, attend a rally outside the White House ahead of US President Donald Trump's meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, February 4, 2025. (Screenshot: X; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Hostage Matan Zangauker's girlfriend Ilana Gritzewsky, right, and mother Einav Zangauker, second from left dressed in white, attend a rally outside the White House ahead of US President Donald Trump's meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, February 4, 2025. (Screenshot: X; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

WASHINGTON — Dozens of Israelis, including hostage Matan Zangauker’s mother and girlfriend, are holding a rally outside the White House calling on US President Donald Trump to ensure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sticks to the ongoing hostage deal.

The rally is being held hours before Trump is slated to meet Netanyahu in the Oval Office.

Zangauker’s mother Einav and his girlfriend Ilana Gritzewsky — herself a former hostage released during the November 2023 hostage deal — address the crowd.

“Dear President Trump, I want to personally thank you for your commitment to freeing our hostages and ending the war,” Zangauker says into a megaphone.

“I am here as a deeply concerned mother who wants to hold her son again… a mother who expected her prime minister to do everything he can to free Israeli hostages. But instead, [Netanyahu] made excuses and favored political considerations [over making a] deal,” she says.

“The extremists in the government are trying to sabotage the agreement, but we will not give up and we will not leave a single hostage behind,” she adds, referring to Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners who have threatened to collapse the government if he doesn’t resume fighting against Hamas after the first phase ends early next month.

Reflecting on her time in captivity, Gritzewsky tells the crowd: “I know what [Matan] is going through right now — the silence, the helplessness, the terror of waking up every day wondering if today will be the day will we die, or the day the world will forget us.”

“President Trump, I know you don’t walk away. I know you don’t stop until the job is done, and that’s why I’m begging you — not as a politician, but as someone who has already shown the world what true leadership looks like: Please don’t stop now,” says Gritzewsky, who is wearing the hat her boyfriend had on when he was taken captive on October 7, 2023, which she has worn every day since her release.

“If this deal falls apart, the hostages will die. It is not a metaphor. It is true. You know it, I know it, and you are the only one who can stop it from happening. Please, President Trump, don’t let them be forgotten. Don’t let Matan die in darkness. You have already done the impossible. Now I’m begging you — finish what you started.”

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