“You will have neither day nor night” in peace: thousands of Israelis, including many relatives of hostages held in Gaza, demonstrated again on Tuesday in front of the Israeli Parliament (the Knesset) in Jerusalem, as they have been doing since Sunday . They tirelessly ask Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign, accused of having “betrayed” popular trust. Some even spend the night there in tents.
“You are leading a campaign against me, against the hostage families, you have turned against us. You call us
traitors
when YOU are the traitor, a traitor to your people, to your voters, to the State of Israel,” Einav Zangauker shouted into the microphone. His son Matan has been held in the Gaza Strip since the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Israel on October 7, which sparked a war in the Gaza Strip.
Without a ceasefire, “all the hostages will return in coffins”
Former Labor Prime Minister Ehud Barak subsequently called for “elections now!” »: "The entry into Rafah (of the army, promised by the government, Editor's note) will occur in a few weeks but the elimination of Hamas in a few months, and by then all the hostages will return in coffins", he warned, judging that “even if the release of the hostages implies a cease-fire, Hamas can be crushed”.
“We are on the right track to get Israel back on track. 100,000 people in front of the Knesset,” he wrote on Monday on the social network X, posting a photo of a “tent city.”
אנחנו בדרך להחזיר את ישראל לפסים. 100 אלף מול הכנסת. מרגש. הכאב והזעם הולידו קפיצת מדרגה בדרך ל׳בחירות מייד!׳ ולהרחקת ׳הראש- ה אשם׳ מההגה. עיר אהלים צמחה מסביב למשכן. Available 24/7. לא ינצחו אותנו. אנחנו הגרעין המוביל, רבים יבואו אחרינו. ביחד, ישראל תנצח pic.twitter.com/7cI1mkJwCM
— אהוד ברק (@barak_ehud) April 1, 2024
After weeks of demonstrations every Saturday in Tel Aviv, the anti-government camps and hostage families have joined forces to shout their anger every evening since Sunday in front of the Knesset.
Knit a 70 km red and white scarf
Nurit Steinfeld, a 72-year-old retiree, knits with others a red (for anger) and white (for peace) scarf, also a symbol of endless waiting. Objective: knit 70 km, like the distance between Gaza and the Knesset. They are now 30 km away.
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“It's a way for us to express ourselves in these very difficult times,” she explained, with the “feeling that this country might not exist for a very long time, because we feel threatened by from the outside but especially from the inside, with half of the country supporting a government that I consider criminal, corrupt.” “Many of us feel taken hostage (…). On both sides they don’t listen to us, they prefer to kill each other,” she added.