Protesters gathered in Tel Aviv and throughout Israel, calling on the government to ensure the completion of the current hostage-ceasefire agreement to secure the release of all captives held by the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza. The protests followed the morning release of Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami, and Eli Sharabi, who were visibly frail and weakened upon their return.
Approximately 1,000 people gathered outside the IDF headquarters on Begin Road in Tel Aviv, condemning the government for abandoning the hostages and condemning them to potential death.
The demonstration near Hostages Square was supported by about 300 anti-government protesters who marched over from Habima Square, where they had heard speeches from various public figures, including Yair Golan, the leader of The Democrats party.
The protesters accused Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of blocking the progress of the agreement’s second phase, potentially leaving many hostages behind to maintain his government’s power. Netanyahu, who is currently in Washington, reportedly decided to delay talks on the second phase of the deal, which had been scheduled for Monday, to first discuss the matter with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Einav Zangauker, whose son, Matan Zangauker, has been held by Hamas since October 7, 2023, and is not part of the first phase of the deal, shouted to the crowd, “I love you, but I’m boiling.”
“Our prime minister is lounging in a Washington hotel while we watch a Holocaust reality show,” she said, accusing Netanyahu of dragging out the deal deliberately to give him an excuse to back out.
“Instead of one comprehensive deal, Netanyahu gave us a long agreement that drags on for months and phases,” she continued, adding, “We don’t need to wait week after week to watch this horrific reality show. Everyone could have been freed in one blow.”
“How has it been nearly 16 months and the negotiating team still has no mandate to discuss the second phase?” she asked. “Why do I need to travel to Washington to tell the US president that my prime minister wants to abandon the hostages?”
“Whoever doesn’t overturn tables to ensure the agreement is concluded in its entirety — whoever derails the agreement — will go down in infamy,” said Zangauker.
She shouted her son’s name, telling him, “I’m doing everything to get you back home alive.”
Addressing all hostages, she added, “An entire nation is fighting for you. Stay strong.”
Yifat Calderon, whose cousin, Ofer Calderon, was released last week as part of the hostage-ceasefire deal, described the suffering her relative endured in Gaza.
“It’s hell, make no mistake,” she said.
Calderon criticized Netanyahu’s statement regarding the hostage release, in which the prime minister pledged to bring down Hamas, calling it another attempt at evading accountability — “toppling Hamas on the backs of the hostages.”
She urged President Trump to view the emaciated faces of Levy, Ben Ami, and Sharabi and press Netanyahu to secure the release of the 73 remaining hostages taken by Hamas on October 7.
“If he keeps stonewalling, we’ll get more corpses, instead of living hostages,” she said.
At the anti-government protest in Tel Aviv, police detained at least two individuals, according to a legal group assisting detained protesters.
The arrests took place as the protest was winding down, with most participants having dispersed. A small group remained after police ordered them to move to the sidewalk. A police officer explained that one of the detainees had used force against an officer.
Shouting “Shame!” about two dozen protesters gathered around the vehicle containing the detainees. An officer shoved some of them aside to clear a path for the car to drive toward the Tel Aviv station.
In a separate protest at Hostages Square, a video of Karina Ariev, one of the five female soldiers released from Hamas captivity as part of the ongoing deal, was screened.
In the video, which was watched by hundreds of protesters, Ariev shared, “There were times when I said to myself — that’s it, you’re not getting out; but then I saw you.”
“I was exposed to your massive support and struggle and that’s what saved me, it’s what lifted me up and gave me the hope to go on,” she said.
Ariev urged the crowd, “I want to tell you that we must not stop. It isn’t over yet,” and emphasized that there are still hostages who need to come home.
She honored the soldiers who “sacrificed their lives so that we could sit here.”
Ariev also addressed the families of those still held, saying, “I have no words that can offer solace, but I want you to know that I and the entire nation will not forget them.”
She thanked the hostage families for their unity, noting that despite the pain and differing opinions, they had become “one big family, and a big light that shone over the entire people.”
“Don’t forget that unity, don’t lose it — it’s what saved us and what will bring everyone home,” she said. “And even when, God willing, the last one comes back — don’t forget it.”
Ariev also expressed gratitude to President Trump, urging him to “help us proceed from the first to the second phase” of the agreement.
“I really believe you have the power and determination to make it work,” she said, concluding with “Am Yisrael Chai!”
Sharon Aloni Cunio, whose husband David Cunio is being held in Gaza and is slated for release only in the second phase, also spoke at Hostages Square. She accused Netanyahu of failing to live up to the words “Never Again” — a phrase he often uses in Holocaust remembrance speeches.
“The State of Israel knows very well how to say ‘Never Again’ to other nations. The prime minister uses it in every one of his speeches in the United States, where he is now,” she said.
“But what is the meaning of ‘Never Again’ if here in our country, an hour’s drive from Tel Aviv, Jews are left to die in Auschwitz conditions?” she asked.
Turning her criticism to politicians opposing the second phase of the deal, she declared, “How dare you?”
“‘Never Again’ means no more Jews emerging from the shadows looking like skeletons,” Aloni Cunio said. “‘Never Again’ means no more stonewalling that makes us bury hostages and not embrace them.”
She called on the prime minister: “Wake up! They’re dying there!”
Aloni Cunio warned that the images of the emaciated hostages would “live in infamy.” “I don’t want my David coming back in a body bag,” she said.
David’s brother, Ariel, is also still being held in Gaza and is not slated for release in the first phase. He was kidnapped along with his wife and three-year-old twin daughters from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023. Aloni Cunio and the girls were freed in a week-long hostage deal in November of that year.
On Saturday, the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a victim of the Hamas attack, also pleaded with President Trump to expedite the release of the remaining hostages.
In a video statement, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin described their connection to Or Levy, who had been kidnapped alongside their son from the same bomb shelter on October 7.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin shared that when Levy was released, one of the first things he asked was whether Hersh was okay, “because he had assumed that Hersh had been released long ago, and his brother had to explain to him that Hersh had been murdered five months ago.”
Polin addressed Trump and his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, saying, “Let’s not think about phase one and phase two and phase three and many months. Let’s think bigger and faster. All 76 hostages out this week. End of war.”
“Who benefits from dragging it out for so long? Not the people of this region. Let’s get it done right now,” he added.
{Matzav.com}