Tel Aviv rally looks to keep attention on hostages amid hopes for fresh talks

With reports from Qatar that Hamas may be ready to resume negotiations for captives held in Gaza, thousands gathered in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square Saturday night to rally for their freedom.

Among those appearing on stage at the weekly gathering was former US diplomat Dennis Ross, who backed the contention that military pressure was pushing Hamas back to negotiations and urged for attention to remain on the plight of the 133 people believed still held captive by Hamas and other Gazan terror groups.

“I wish I could say I have a magic solution,” said Ross, speaking in English at the rally organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. “I know something about Hamas, about [Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya] Sinwar, there will have to be military pressure put upon them.”

Ross, who played a key role in diplomatic negotiations for several US administrations from the 1980s to 2011, said Hamas’s desire for a reprieve from Israel’s punishing military campaign in Gaza had brought them back to the table for Qatar-mediated talks.

Negotiations for a fresh hostage deal and possible humanitarian truce fell apart earlier this month, with Hamas saying it would only resume talks if a ceasefire was in place, a condition rejected by Israel.

“Hamas cares about its public image and we collectively have to make it clear that the focus has to be on hostages,” said Ross.

Moran Stella Yanai, who was among 105 civilians released in an earlier truce, said she was counting the days that others had remained in captivity while she was free.

“After 54 days in Gaza, I returned home,” said Yanai. “Thirty-two days that I can drink clean water and eat food. I sleep and know I’ll get up in the morning and open the window and see the sun. I can cry when I’m sad or yell when I’m angry. There’s no way to describe the fear and what it’s like to live in that reality. All you have are your dreams.”

Yanai was taken captive from the Supernova desert rave, where she had gone to sell her jewelry designs at the festival.

“When I was kidnapped they took everything from me,” she recounted. “Control of my life, my freedom, my name and my identity. Those who were there know. So we have to be their voice.”

Speaking at a weekly press conference, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered cautious optimism for the possibility of a deal, saying that “right now, we see a possibility, maybe, for movement.”

But he also warned that the war will last “many more months.”

Israel has vowed to crush Hamas after the terror group led a massive assault on southern Israel October 7, carrying out deadly rampages in communities across southern Israel and killing some 1,200. Another approximately 240 people were taken hostage during the onslaught.

While keeping the movement apolitical, families campaigning for their freedom, even at the cost of a ceasefire with Hamas still intact, have found themselves occasionally at odds with Netanyahu’s government, which maintains that increased military pressure is the key to winning their release.

As thousands gathered outside the Hostages Square outside the Tel Aviv Art Museum, a large rally was also held against the government, after criticism of Netanyahu was largely muted in the wake of the attack, a sign of the increasing domestic pressure piling on the premier over its handling of the war.

Rotem Calderon, who survived the Hamas attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz, told the crowd that he turned 19 in October, and tried to celebrate a bit, until he was told that day that the bodies of his grandmother Carmela Dan and cousin Noya Dan, killed on October 7.

His brothers Erez, 12, and Sahar, 16, were released from captivity, but his father, Ofer Calderon, remains a hostage in Gaza.

“I haven’t mourned them yet,” said Rotem Calderon, “because we have to yell and not just for the hostage families — for all of the nation of Israel.”

He added that the slogan “Am Yisrael Chai” — the nation of Israel lives — was an empty one “until all the hostages return home,” said Calderon.

While the whole world will mark the New Year on Sunday night, he said his only wish was “to celebrate it with Dad.”

“Our lives were stopped on October 7 and won’t return to what they were,” said Nissan Calderon, Ofer Calderon’s brother. “And until he returns, we can’t rebuild our new lives.”

With hopes of keeping global attention on the issue and pressure on Hamas, celebrities have also begun making appearances at the weekly rallies. Reality TV’s Julia Haart, who won fame with the Netflix Series “My Unorthodox Life” about her transition from Haredi housemaker to secular modeling agent, spoke at the demonstration, seemingly taking a cue from sci-fi blockbuster “Independence Day.”

“We will not be silenced,” she said. “We will not go quietly in the night.”

In a sign of the broad base of support for the hostages’ plight across Israeli society, rally organizers urged participants after the demonstrations to join “our ultra-Orthodox brethren in Bnei Brak right now,” where residents of the Haredi enclave were holding a public prayer service for the hostages.

“I’ve never been prouder to be a Jew, and to support Israel,” said Haart. “My soul is with the hostages and Clal Yisrael.”

The vast majority of those held in Gaza were kidnapped on October 7, though two civilians and the remains of two soldiers taken in 2014 also remain captive, including Oron Shaul, whose body is held by Hamas.

Attention turned this week to Shaul, who would have turned 30 on Thursday, with both his family and Hamas releasing videos seemingly aimed at urging he not be forgotten.

“If you stay quiet, nothing happens,” said his brother Aviram Shaul, speaking at the rally. “Only pressure and public pressure will bring them home, there’s no other way.”

The rally ended with a performance by musician Hanan Ben Ari singing his song, “Blind Bat,” in memory of Shaul Greenglick, a reservist who was killed in Gaza on Monday.

חנן בן ארי ביצע הערב בעצרת התמיכה במשפחות החטופים את "עטלף עיוור" לזכרו של סרן שאול גרינגליק שנפל בקרבות בעזה pic.twitter.com/arIwUruDrz

— Gil mishali גיל משעלי (@gilmishali) December 30, 2023

Greenglick, an aspiring singer, had successfully auditioned on December 3 on “The Next Star,” an Israeli TV show that picks the country’s submission for the Eurovision Song Contest. On furlough and dressed in army fatigues and lieutenant’s stripes, Greenglick sang Ben Ari’s song and was green-lit for the next round in the selection process.

רק לפני 3 שבועות: האודישן ב"הכוכב הבא" של סרן שאול גרינגליק ז"ל שנפל ברצועה – "יש לך כישרון טבעי"https://t.co/8mPDE1EdQ2 pic.twitter.com/jhhBGp8FwJ

— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) December 26, 2023

Before singing, Ben-Ari told the crowd that he had visited Greenglick’s family in Ra’anana, where they sang together and spoke.

“His father Tzvika said that his dream was to be a singer, because music can bring this nation together,” said Ben Ari. “This is for Shaul who now isn’t here but his spirit and his command and his wish is with us.”