‘No forgiveness’: Yom Kippur-themed protests slam Netanyahu for ‘neglecting’ hostages
5 arrested as activists block Tel Aviv highway, light tires to form message: ‘Sorry we were taken hostage’; Families Forum and others arrange prayer services at Hostages Square
As Israeli Jews marked Yom Kippur, activists for the release of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza held multiple protests over the weekend that were centered around the day’s focus of apologizing for sins, asking the captives for forgiveness and charging that the government doesn’t deserve forgiveness for failing to return the abductees.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum also arranged prayer services dedicated to the hostages at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv at the beginning of Yom Kippur on Friday evening and the end of the holiday on Saturday evening. The services were organized in partnership with the Orot Shaul yeshiva in Tel Aviv and the Tzohar rabbinical organization.
The solemn fast day of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, is traditionally considered a day of atonement and repentance as God decides whether to forgive or punish people’s sins of the past year.
On Saturday evening, protesters blocked Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway and lit tires on fire to form the words, “Sorry we were taken hostage.”
Police said they arrested five demonstrators, adding that the road had been reopened after officers cleared the protesters.
Among those who took part in the protest were Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan was taken captive during the October 7 terror onslaught last year.
Zangauker lit a torch outside the Kirya IDF headquarters and apologized to her son for the situation in which “a year has passed and we still haven’t succeeded in causing the government to bring a [hostage] deal.”
“While you languish in the tunnels, the defense minister, the IDF chief of staff and the prime minister say on every stage that we have overpowered Hamas’s military wing. But they are not willing to end the war in Gaza and bring you back,” she said during a press conference by several hostage relatives.
Danny Elgarat, whose brother Itzik is being held captive, accused Netanyahu of not wanting a hostage deal.
“He wants to protect his reign, and he’s willing to sacrifice you all for his personal interests,” he said.
“You say you have atoned for your sins. You cannot atone for sins that were committed on purpose. You are knowingly neglecting them. You know military pressure endangers them. There will be no forgiveness,” said Yifat Kalderon, whose cousin Ofer Kalderon is being held in Gaza.
Meanwhile, hundreds of demonstrators held a rally in Caesarea Saturday evening outside Netanyahu’s private residence, chanting, “No forgiveness.”
They gathered with Israeli flags and yellow flags for the hostages and, using fire, lit up a message forming the words, “We will not forgive,” and “The neglecter is finished.”
They also set up a casket-like box with the words, “He who neglected [the hostages] on the morning of October 7 has neglected them since then, day after day after day after day…”
קיסריה | מול בית אשם
מרי אזרחי הוא מרי הכרחי ‼️
צילום | בני משי pic.twitter.com/u0WA0lXoiG
— מוקד קיסריה (@GershonDror) October 12, 2024
It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
Continuous attempts to reach another hostage deal with Hamas have repeatedly failed and have largely gone stagnant as Israel has shifted its focus to fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon after a year of the terrorist organization’s near-daily rocket and drone attacks that it said were in solidarity with Hamas.
