Family members of hostages held in Gaza protested at the Knesset on Wednesday, smearing yellow paint on the glass sides of the Knesset’s visitors’ section. Knesset members from the opposition supported the protest.
“Our hearts are with you, families of the hostages,” opposition chair Yair Lapid said in the Knesset plenary. “We will fight with you. I call on the protestors to respect the law, and I call on the police to protect the protestors.”
“Yesterday at the Knesset, families of the hostages, who are crying out in pain, once again encountered the opacity of the Knesset members. Without public pressure on the government, we will not see the hostages. Don’t lend a hand to the abandonment and don’t allow the government to normalize it,” representatives of the families of the hostages said.
Families from the Tikva Forum, a right-wing alternative to the main hostages’ families forum, protested on Tuesday at the UNRWA offices in Tel Aviv together with Tzav 9, a right-wing organization that opposes the entry of aid into Gaza.
Tzofit Libman, sister-in-law of the hostage Elyakim Libman, spoke at the protest. “My brother-in-law is a hostage, and while he was saving lives, your teachers were dragging bodies,” she said,” addressing UNRWA. “How do you explain that? Why do you not speak out against this? Your silence is worse. Your organization took active part in a massacre, and now, too, you know where the hostages are and refuse to aid in their return. We will make sure to disrupt the activities of the organization until the Israeli government removes it from Jerusalem.”
