Protesters accompany Edelstein on walk to synagogue, a week after women arrested for distributing hostage flyers there

Hundreds of people again protest as MK Yuli Edelstein walks to synagogue in Herzliya, a week after three women were arrested yesterday for putting flyers calling for a hostage deal on seats in the house of worship, the Ynet news site reports.

Footage from the scene shows Edelstein surrounded by police officers as demonstrators walk near him waving Israeli flags and shouting “shame” and “forsaker of Zion.”

The chant is a reference to the fact that the Likud lawmaker was a Prisoner of Zion — a Jewish refusenik jailed in the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

This is the second week that demonstrators have targeted Edelstein after three women were arrested, shackled and questioned for eight hours for placing the flyers in the synagogue.

The flyers showed the pictures of four of the female soldiers taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, along with Ariel and Kfir Bibas, the two young children who remain captive in Gaza.

In the center is a picture of Edelstein from his time in a Soviet prison, with the caption “Let my people go,” a popular rallying cry by supporters of Jewish refuseniks.

Among those taking part in the protest was Chen Arad, brother of missing Israeli airman Ron Arad.

“Ron is not here. I respect those who expect the families of the hostages to sit at home and obey instructions from the system, but the families need to worry only about themselves, to safeguard their loved ones and act according to their conscience,” he tells Ynet.

Air Force navigator Ron Arad bailed out of his plane during a mission over southern Lebanon in 1986. Despite decades of efforts Israel was unable to locate him and his final fate remains a mystery, although he is presumed dead.