From the Liveblog of
Saturday, November 9, 2024
Speaking in Hebrew, German ambassador calls for hostages’ return at Tel Aviv rally
Speaking in Hebrew at Hostages Square, Steffen Seibert, Germany’s ambassador to Israel, says that for some Israeli politicians, “the fate of the hostages is just one of the [war’s] aims, and certainly not the primary one.”
“And I say this as the representative of Germany and out of responsibility” to hostages with German citizenship, Seibert adds.
“I must admit that until now, we have failed to bring everyone home. All the talks with those who have influence on Hamas” have come to nought, he says.
Naming hostages who have German citizenship or are related to German citizens, Seibert says: “These are Germans, or family members of Germans, and we want them back.”
In an announcement on tonight’s rally, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum says it will feature speakers from a wide spectrum of Israeli society united in a call for a hostage deal.
Seibert is followed by Dolan Abu Salah, head of the municipal council of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, where 12 children were killed in a Hezbollah rocket attack in July; Rabbi Avidan Friedman, a settler from Efrat who led a hunger strike in front of the Knesset to demand a hostage deal; and journalist Shai Golden, whose departure from the right-wing Channel 14 drew rebukes from Netanyahu loyalists.
“I consider myself right-wing,” says Golden, “but I don’t come here as a right-winger — I come as an Israeli.”
He says Israel will continue fighting “the Nazis of Hamas” for generations to come, but must sign a hostage deal now, even if that means ending the war.
“What has gone wrong with your Jewish conscience, prime minister?” he says.
“Send your negotiating team wherever is necessary and say to them a single sentence: don’t you dare come back without a hostage deal,” adds Golden.
Friedman notes that in the past week’s Torah portion, the patriarch Abraham goes to war to save his hostage nephew Lot.
“Then as now the foremost fight of our existential struggle is to rescue all the hostages,” says Friedman.
