The families and friends of the Israelis held hostage by Hamas want two things: an immediate hostage deal with Hamas rather than reliance on military operations in Gaza, and early elections in Israel.
Author
Khinvraj Jangid, Professor, Jindal School of International Affairs (JSIA) and Director, Jindal Centre for Israel Studies (JCIS), O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
Summary
The families and friends of the Israelis held hostage or killed by Hamas did not conduct solemn candle marches to mark six months of the 7 October attack. Instead, they held Israeli flags and torches and brought the country to a halt.
For long, the families of the hostages maintained a distance from the anti-government protesters—the liberal, secular, progressive, feminist, and Left who led the successful Kaplan Street protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reforms last year. They used to assemble in front of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, in an open space called Hostages Square (kikar hatufim). The families comprise diverse people with different political preferences and ideological stances, and they didn’t want to face the polarising question of being pro- or anti-Netanyahu.
After anxiously waiting for six months, they are broken and desperate—the Netanyahu government has failed to bring their loved ones back. And so they want two things: an immediate hostage deal with Hamas rather than reliance on military operations in Gaza, and early elections in Israel.
Published in: The Print
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