Hundreds of people on Saturday joined a protest outside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv started by Avichai Brodetz of Kibbutz Kfar Azza, a man whose wife and three children are being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, with many at the scene assailing the far-right government they hold responsible for the catastrophe. He began the vigil outside the military headquarters in the early hours of Saturday morning, and vowed to stay there until the abductees are returned to Israel.
“My family is in Gaza”, Avichai Brodetz of Kibbutz Kfar Azza outside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, Saturday morning, October 14, 2023 (Photo: social media)
Brodetz says he isn’t political at all and went to stand outside military headquarters alone before being joined by hundreds condemning the government. The Defense Ministry and army headquarters in central Tel Aviv, also known as the Kirya, are adjacent to Kaplan Street, which became famous for weekly mass demonstrations against the government that were held there since the start of the year, but which have now been halted as the country finds itself at war with Hamas in Gaza.
Hamas-led attackers who invaded southern communities on Saturday, October 7, killed more than 1,300 people and snatched some 150-200 into Gaza as hostages, including babies, young children, women and the elderly.
Protesters chanted “Go to jail, Bibi!” and “Leave!”, “Resign” and “Shame”. Among the crowd, placards read: “Bibi, you have blood on your hands,” “We’ve been abandoned,” “Return the hostages immediately,” and “There’s no trust, resign.”
Protesters blocked several times Kaplan Street during Saturday and taped posters depicting the faces of those who’d been taken to a wall outside the ministry. Other protests were held Saturday evening near the houses of several far-right ministers and lawmakers, among them Idit Silman in Rehovot, Yitzchak Vaserlauf in Tel-Aviv, Yuri Edelstein in Herzliya Pituach, Dani Danon in Ra’anana, Yoav Kisch in Hod Hasharon and Yariv Levin in Modi’in.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=31257
