Tel Aviv hostage deal protest ends peacefully

Protesters disperse from the anti-government, pro-hostage deal demonstration on Tel Aviv’s Begin Street. There were no clashes with police.

At its height, the protest drew some 200 people, including Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, and Ifat Kalderon, cousin of hostage Ofer Kalderon.

Protesters took over all but one of the central route’s lanes, occasionally blocking the road, with the last one for several minutes. One protester for the hostages held a sign reading “Honk until they hear,” and cheered drivers who heeded the call.

“Netanyahu don’t forget, history won’t forgive,” chanted the protesters, who accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of thwarting a hostage deal in order to keep his rightwing government intact.

Some protesters put up mock street signs dubbing the road “The Abandoner street: named for Benjamin Netanyahu, the greatest abandoner in the history of the people of Israel.”

On the road, with large cardboard planks, protesters spell out: “How much more blood will be spilled for nothing?”

Protesters’ signs and shirts leave little room for doubt that the slogan refers not just to the hostages, but to Gaza’s Palestinians.

One protester hoists a sign reading, in English: “From the river to the sea, only peace will set us free.”

After the protesters disperse, big white letters can be seen graffitied on the street. One line reads: “Mr. Abandonment and death,” referring to Netanyahu; the next: “genocide”; and finally, in Hebrew and English: “SOS.”