‘Thank you, Biden’: Thousands in Jerusalem rally in support of new hostage bid

Thousands of Israelis marched in Jerusalem on Saturday evening, demanding the government reach a hostage deal after US President Joe Biden on Friday unveiled a new proposed Israeli plan to free remaining prisoners in Gaza and achieve a ceasefire. -fire with Hamas.

“Tonight is an evening of hope,” anti-government activist Tova Sheleg said from a podium outside the presidential residence, where demonstrators ended their march. “There is a real chance of reaching an agreement that could bring the hostages home. »

The march and rally ended peacefully, with no arrests or confrontations with police.

The fate of the 121 hostages held in Gaza since October 7 appears to be at a critical juncture after Biden’s speech and Israeli leaders’ hesitation over the plan, as far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s coalition threaten overthrow the government if it continues with an agreement.

The three-phase plan was initially proposed by Israel and approved by the war cabinet of Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister Benny Gantz, but now that the outline has been made public, many families of the Hostages fear that the Prime Minister will try to cancel it.

“In the coming hours there will be very strong attempts to torpedo the agreement,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said on Saturday evening, calling for mass protests. “We are entering into an immediate and aggressive struggle that demands that the State of Israel implement the agreement it itself proposed. »

The local branch of the Hostage Families Forum – which had initially declined to participate, objecting to the lack of hostage families among the rally speakers – reluctantly decided at the last minute to join the march , although she did not officially support the rally that followed.

Earlier this week, a Forum organizer called the absence of family members of the hostages from the rally’s planned roster “a serious and significant omission.”

A handful of hostage families led the march from the top of Ben Yehuda Street, surrounded by demonstrators waving yellow flags in support of their cause, honking horns and holding signs thanking Biden for his statement.

The protests in Jerusalem were expected to revolve around the upcoming Jerusalem Day holiday, which Israelis will celebrate from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, but organizers changed course following Biden’s speech.

As protesters marched past the hostage families’ tent outside Netanyahu’s official residence, members and volunteers of the movement held up photos of Hamas prisoners for passersby.

A spokesperson for the anti-government group Safeguarding our Shared Home said Saturday night’s rally was the largest demonstration in Jerusalem since October 7, with around 5,000 people in attendance. Organizers highlighted the distinction between national protests held in Jerusalem, which number in the tens of thousands, and those led by organizations actually based in the city.

Although small compared to the estimated 120,000 demonstrators in Tel Aviv the same evening, the turnout was remarkable in Jerusalem, which leans conservative.

Biden’s speech appears to have increased pressure from anti-government activists to end the war, with calls for a ceasefire going hand in hand with demands for new elections.

Avi Dabush, an evacuee from Kibbutz Nirim near the Gaza border, told the crowd that his community had “paid the heaviest price” after years of neglect by the government, mentioning two of his friends, Yagev Buchshtav and Nadav Popplewell, who are being held captive. by Hamas in Gaza and many others who were murdered in the terrorist group’s October 7 massacre.

“Elections are now necessary but not sufficient,” Dabush said. “I join President Biden in calling for a deal now, for a ceasefire that returns Nadav, Yagev and 123 other hostages to us. »

Ella Dotan, a student activist with the shared society organization Standing Together, spoke after Dabush.

“We must not turn a blind eye, we must see the hostages, we must look and see what is happening in our name in Gaza. We must see the innocent people who were killed, the famine, the orphans and the refugees,” she said.

“On June 13, we will mark 250 days of war, 250 days of captivity, 250 days in which our government only paid attention to its interests rather than the human beings who live here,” she continued. , while the crowd chanted against Netanyahu’s government among themselves paused.

Settling for nothing less than the complete destruction of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened Saturday evening to collapse Netanyahu’s coalition if he implemented this plan to execution.

Eyal Gur, an organizer with Safeguarding our Shared Home, said ultranationalist politicians had “decided to take the country captive” with their threats.

“It is precisely from those who declared ‘together we will overcome’ and demanded unity over the past months, that we hope that they will maintain that unity when the entire nation is united around the Prime minister to reach an agreement. Abandoning the hostages now will cost them their lives,” he told The Times of Israel.

The war in Gaza erupted after the October 7 Hamas massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists cross the Israeli border by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and taking 252 hostages, mostly civilians, most amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.

An estimated 121 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza – not all alive – after 105 civilians were released from captivity by Hamas during a week-long truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Three hostages were rescued alive by troops, and the bodies of 19 hostages were also found, including three mistakenly killed by the army.

The Israeli military confirmed the deaths of 37 of those still held by Hamas, citing new intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.

Another person has been missing since October 7 and their fate remains unknown.

Hamas has also held the bodies of fallen soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin since 2014, as well as those of two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, both of whom are believed to be alive after entering the Gaza Strip. of their own accord in 2014. and 2015 respectively.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.