Weekly protests in Israel persist amid new challenges, opportunities for hostage release deal

If the hostages have been forgotten by many in the international community, Israel is doing everything it can to make up for it. As the landscape shifts rapidly, there are growing concerns that Gaza is being sidelined, with Israel's attention now turning to the northern front to confront Hezbollah and Iran.

These concerns have been compounded by talk of “small deals” to secure the release of only a few hostages in exchange for a two-week truce, alongside news that Mossad Director David Barnea would be traveling to Doha, Qatar, for the negotiations without the authority to make the concessions needed for a viable agreement.

Frustrated by multiple failed attempts and proposals for small deals, protesters have demanded a single, comprehensive agreement to bring everyone back at once as the only way forward.

The Times of Israel reported that the insistence on a single deal stemmed from concerns that any other approach could result in some hostages being left in Gaza indefinitely.

During a rally at Hostages Square, the father of hostage Omri Miran said, “We don’t want any more Ron Arads” – a reference to an IDF soldier who went missing in Lebanon in 1986, and is thought to still be held hostage by Hezbollah after 38 years.

“It’s time to finish the job and reach agreements,” Miran insisted.

While Barnea left for Doha for renewed negotiations with Hamas leaders, Channel 12 news reported on Saturday that an official from the Israeli delegation told families of hostages that a sufficiently broad mandate to achieve results had not yet been provided by the government.

Danny Elgarat, brother of hostage Itzik Elgarat, addressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at an anti-government rally in Tel Aviv.

“Don’t send the Mossad chief without any authority,” he said, demanding that Netanyahu go to Doha instead. “Stop playing for time,” said Elgarat.

Friends and families of those trapped in Gaza for an unbearable 386 days have protested almost every week, along with many others. The IDF Home Front Command had restricted the protests for a few weeks as the fighting with Hezbollah intensified, but as soon as the restrictions were lifted the activists resumed their weekly rallies.

Now that Hezbollah and Iran appear to be taking center stage, protesters like Yifat Calderon, whose cousin Ofer Calderon is captive in Gaza, are concerned that the hostages are not being prioritized.

“After the attack in Iran, we are anxious about regional escalation, which will take us further away from a deal and impose a death sentence on our loved ones in captivity,” Calderon said at a press conference ahead of Saturday’s protest. 

While demonstrators represented a wide spectrum of political opinions until now, differences have become increasingly apparent. Some have a biting anti-government agenda - a continuation of the controversial judicial overhaul protests from before the war, while others remain focused on the release of the hostages.

Nepal's acting ambassador to Israel, Kumar Shrestha, conveyed gratitude for the government’s “continued efforts in finding Bipin,” when mentioning the Nepalese farming student who recently turned 24 while in Hamas captivity.

Bipin Joshi was kidnapped from Kibbutz Alumim.

"We ask to bring forth negotiations and a cease-fire that would release them,” said Shrestha at the Hostages Square rally. “Bipin and the rest of the hostages are innocent – well and truly innocent."

Other protesters believe the government is deliberately delaying a deal to stay in power.

Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, said Netanyahu was “using the ‘small deal’ to drag his feet and avoid reaching a major deal to return them all.” 

Fissures are even visible within groups of relatives, with family members expressing different opinions on the value of the rallies.

Nadav Miran, the brother of hostage Omri Miran said, “In recent months, I’ve opposed the direction of the protests. We hear Sinwar instructing the hostages in Gaza to tell their families to protest and bring down the government. And what do Israelis do? They follow Sinwar's orders.” His father Dani accused government ministers of being “impotent, lacking the capacity to think, lacking the capacity to discuss bringing back the hostages but with great capacity for their own political survival.”

The protests being held in various locations across the country have become deeply politicized, however, uniting them all is a commitment to keep the focus on the hostages and their safe return home to their families.

"We settled the score with mass murderer Sinwar but now, more than ever, the life of my son Matan and the rest of the hostages is in real danger," Zangauker told The Jerusalem Post.

"There will be no real closure, there will be no total victory if we don't save lives and bring them home."