Police arrest man suspected of threatening hostage’s mother
Video posted online shows suspect brandishing knife as he tells Einav Zangauker he will ‘catch’ and ‘assault’ her at next protest for hostage deal
Police announced they arrested a man on Sunday for posting online threats against the family of Matan Zangauker, who is being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
Police said the 36-year-old man from Nahariya would be brought before the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Zangauker’s mother, Einav, has been one of the most outspoken critics of the government and its failure to find a way to bring the hostages home.
In a video uploaded by the suspect on social media, he could be seen brandishing a knife as he tells her, “I will catch you at a protest and assault you. Go to hell.”
In a statement, Einav Zangauker said, “Incitement and violence will not deter me” and called on the government to condemn intimidation of hostages’ families.
“A mother whose son is held kidnapped in Gaza is not afraid of any thug who threatens in videos with a knife,” she said. “I have a child to save and I will fight for him and the other 100 abductees, and I will not stop until they all return home to us in a deal.”
The time has come, she continued, for the prime minister and his cabinet “to condemn the incitement and venom against families of hostages, and advance the deal on the table from July that will bring our loved ones home to us.”
Channel 12 reported that the same suspect had showed up on Friday at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court, where Noa Goldenberg was brought for a hearing after she allegedly threw wet sand beach at National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on a beach.
The suspect verbally attacked Goldenberg’s family and the media and was removed from the scene by the court’s security guards, according to the report.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid decried the threats against Zangauker, calling them “a disgrace to Israeli society.”
“The incitement against [Einav Zangauker] is the result of violent discourse toward the hostage families that begins with members of the coalition,” he wrote social media. “The entire nation of Israel must stand behind her.”
Meanwhile, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to publicly and firmly denounce the dangerous incitement against hostage families.”
In a statement, the forum added, “The hostage families have faced indescribable suffering for what is already 11 months of incessant worry for the fate of their loved ones.”
Matan Zangauker is one of 97 hostages believed to still be held by Hamas in Gaza after the terrorist organization killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages on October 7.
At least 33 of the remaining hostages have been 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.
As efforts to reach a deal that would see the hostages released have thus far failed to bear fruit, protesters led by some of the hostages’ families have taken to the streets weekly for months to demand the government reach an agreement with Hamas that would see their loved ones returned to Israel.
The protests intensified last week after six hostages‘ bodies were recovered from Gaza and revealed to have been murdered by Hamas a day or two before the army found them. After a general strike the following day and near-daily protests throughout the week, members of the government who opposed a hostage deal accused the demonstrators of feeding into Hamas propaganda.
