About 200 people demonstrated in front of the campus in Tel Aviv on Saturday, calling for the release of the many abductees whom Hamas terrorists took with them to the Gaza Strip.
Avichai Brodetz, whose family members were abducted from their home in the village of Gaza to the Gaza Strip, set up a protest vigil in front of the Kirya. At some point, an alarm sounded in Tel Aviv, and the demonstrators began to enter the nearby parking lot. "It's important to me that Israel make every possible effort to return the children of all of us and the women of all of us, and then all the other people who are there in captivity or in places where we don't know what's going on," he said.
Families of abductees to Gaza demonstrate at the Kirya in Tel Aviv, photo: Coco
"Let Hamas make this humanitarian move on its part. I know it's a Muslim and religious organization that doesn't want to do this to our women and children," Brodetz added. "I want them to make this move together with the State of Israel and return our families to us. And I see everyone here and I'm sure it's the right move. I very much hope that peace will come and that we won't have to stand here again."
Residents of the Gaza village protest in front of the Kirya until the abductees are returned // Photo: Avi Cohen
Brodetz told of his wife Hagar and his daughters Ofri, 10, Yuval, 8, and Uriah, 4, who were abducted to Gaza along with another girl. "I really love my family. Hagar was a very brave woman with whom she held the children. We corresponded and at one point she didn't say anything," he said from the bottom of his heart. "It's just amazing. She just said that everything was fine and that there was another girl who found herself in this situation with her."
"I'll start from scratch," he said when asked about what he would do as a farmer after the war. "I served in the army and served in the reserves. I love my country, I love all of you, I received support here that I never imagined. I knew we were one people and everything, and what was happening here was beyond what I could have ever dreamed of."
Families of abductees to Gaza demonstrate at the Kirya in Tel Aviv, photo: Coco
The mother of Omer Shem Tov, who participated in the nature party at Kibbutz Reim, also came to the site of the demonstration and shouted at those who involve politics in these demonstrations. She approached one of the protesters and begged him to stop demonstrating: "Everyone needs to unite, there is no right or left."
Mother of Omer Shem Tov, who has been missing since the party at Kibbutz Reim // Photo: Avi Cohen
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