From the Liveblog of
Saturday, August 31, 2024
Protesters gather nationwide, highlight plight of Bibas hostage kids, say PM should go to jail
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
Protesters gather throughout the country — in Tzahala, at Nahalal Junction, Hemed, Hurfeish, Karkur, Zichron Yaakov, Herzliya, Rehovot, Haifa and elsewhere — wrapped in Israeli flags, holding signs calling for elections and for the release of the hostages.
In Nes Ziona, protests revolve around the start of school on September 1, centered around an exhibit of schoolbags featuring the faces of the preschooler Ariel Bibas and his baby brother, Kfir Bibas. Another protester holds a sign mimicking a piece of looseleaf paper that reads: “What I did on my summer vacation: 1. Lived in a hotel (where evacuees are still living months after October 7) 2. I started wetting the bed again 3. A missile hit my house and destroyed it 4. My father was injured in Gaza 5. I missed my friends.”
Protesters line the side of the highway at Hemed Junction where a set of women sit with their eyes covered and wrists tied, symbolizing the female hostages held in Gaza. In Haifa, hundreds of people march, calling for elections, holding signs that accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of abandoning the hostages.
At Tzahala, there are poster board cutouts of the hostages set up in a display, as protesters hold oversized, bright red signs bordered with thumbnail pictures of each hostage and the message, “Netanyahu is torpedoing the deal” — each sign printed with dates of previous deals over the past months that were in negotiation and allegedly torpedoed by the prime minister.
Hundreds line the main street in Caesarea, where Netanyahu owns a second home, holding flags, drums and signs calling for the premier to be sent to jail. In nearby Karkur, protesters block the main intersection as they call for the government to be disbanded immediately. Police forces eventually block protesters and arrest one person.
