My mother told me she was on the way to a prayer service for the hostages,” a close friend of mine told me Thursday night. “You mean the demonstration,” my friend corrected his mother. “No, a prayer service for the release of the Israeli hostages at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv,” she explained.
A unity rally for the return of the abducted was held last evening in Hostage Square, in front of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and near IDF headquarters. Chief Rabbi of Israel David Lau, along with other speakers, including relatives of captives and victims, addressed the gathering. They expressed unity despite differences and urgently called for the release of all hostages.
My friend was initially surprised that his mother would go to a demonstration for the release of the hostages, for the simple reason that he didn’t think she would like to participate in what he saw as a political event – but later realized that he was judging this movement from a skewed perspective he has obtained over the past six months.
Most Israelis agree that the hostages should be released from the hands of the deadly Hamas. Still, the movement, at least those who have been the loudest, has become very similar to those who demonstrated against the judicial reforms and this government until October 7.
There are several similarities: The demonstrations occurred in the same area the pre-October 7 demonstrations against the government took place; some activists have recently begun to illegally block streets, highways, and junctions, as have the anti-judicial reform members; they use the Hebrew word ahshav! (now!) while yelling, precisely the same way the demonstrators against the government did for the year before the Hamas massacre (they also used the word busha, or ashamed) and they use the same tone and intonation.
ADDITIONALLY, one of the leaders of the movement for releasing the hostages was Ronen Tzur, a strategist and owner of one of Israel’s leading PR agencies. In 2023, he was prominently involved in the campaign against judicial reform, occasionally speaking at demonstrations where he likened the government’s actions to those of Nazi Germany.
Keeping the protests apolitical
In a recent interview with The Jerusalem Post’s Tovah Lazaroff and Eliav Breuer, Tzur, who quit his voluntary role in the campaign, emphasized his efforts to keep the campaign apolitical and maintain neutrality.
He said he counseled the families to avoid political statements in their speeches and advocated for rallies to be held at Hostage Square rather than on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv, which had been a focal point for anti-government protests that year.
In the interview, Tzur accused the government of attempting to discredit the forum by portraying it as a politically motivated group intent on ousting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite the presence of Netanyahu supporters among the demonstrators.
That said, Tzur’s involvement in the movement was natural since one of his employees reached out to him for help – since his relatives were thought to have been kidnapped but were later identified as having been murdered during the Nova festival.
First of all, anyone using the protests of these poor families to influence Israeli politics is a criminal. We cannot allow the cynical use of these families’ worst life moments just so they can make this government collapse, however destructive or harmful it may be.
But judging these families for being persistent and fighting for their loved ones is also fair. It’s understandable that they will do anything to help rescue them.
Unfortunately, the protests and events geared towards keeping our hostages in the news cycle are perceived by many as something political – because deep down inside, it’s something that we all want to happen and pray for every single day.
What is lacking is an event or movement of Israelis from all cycles of Israeli life: secular, religious, haredi; Sephardic, Ashkenazic; Israelis who live in Judea and Samaria, and those who live in Tel Aviv. An event that would bring in millions of Israelis, whether together or in many locations. The events should be respectable, nonviolent, and sensitive to all beliefs and cultures.
He argued that the government saw the families as a political liability, fearing that any deal to release hostages would come at a high cost because of their rightly emotional demands, and potentially damage Netanyahu’s political standing.
THE PROBLEM is that people who support this government are afraid to speak out and say, “I’m with the families of the hostages,” since it is perceived to be a leftist position to take. There are many groups of Israelis, including those who serve in the IDF and who have also lost many of their loved ones, who feel uncomfortable participating in some of the hostage release rallies.
There is a vast public outcry acknowledging that there was a failure on October 7, and no one denies this – even some on the Right will say publicly that they may be against Netanyahu. The thing is, these people won’t agree to advocate collapsing the State of Israel if the hostages aren’t released.
Let us not forget that Israel was established as a refuge for the Jewish people. We can’t destroy our country for the sake of a political agenda. It’s unacceptable for the hostage issue to be monopolized by the Left. We have reached a situation where many can’t claim to both support Netanyahu and advocate for releasing hostages simultaneously.
It’s also unfair to the families of the hostages that these Israelis, who serve in the IDF and support their cause, don’t feel comfortable participating in the protests because of their character – while the silent majority remains inactive, simply watching in disbelief.
So what needs to be done? We must amplify this public’s voice, championing freedom before the Passover holiday. We must promote freedom of thought without resorting to violence. We should insist that even religious or ultra-Orthodox individuals should be able to express their support for the release of the hostages.
We should rally for the State of Israel, displaying hundreds of thousands of flags. This presence was noticeable in the early days of the conflict, but it has since faded. We need to fight for Israel – not for the Right or the Left, but for Israel itself. We must show our enemies and ourselves that we are one united nation. This cause is more significant than any state. We have no other home.
The silent majority needs to step away from their screens and make their voices heard – they are, after all, the majority.