Protests the far-right government and for the release of the hostages are being held, Sunday Sep 1, throughout Israel, following the announcement that bodies of six hostages were recovered from Gaza. One of them is Hersh Goldberg-Polin who was born in California and immigrated to Israel from the United States in 2008, when he was about seven years old. Goldberg-Polin celebrated his birthday four days before the start of the war. He was a fan of the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball and soccer teams, a familiar face at Jerusalem’s Teddy Stadium and Arena a member of the Brigade Malcha fan club and participated in several activities led by Young Communists in Jerusalem.
Protesters block Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway amid clashes with police following a rally for a hostage deal and against the far-right government, August 31, 2024. (Photo: Yoav Loeff / Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)
On Sunday morning, hundreds for lecturers and students from Weizmann Institute including the father of hostage Nimrod Cohen blocked for hours the entrance of Rehovot and dozens of protesters blocked traffic at the Ra’anana Intersection in central Israel, before police dispersed them.
Other protests are being held afternoon in several locations in Tel Aviv and blocking roads where demonstrators are reading the names of the hostages, and in northern Israel and Jerusalem.
Histadrut Labor Federation chairman Arnon Bar-David is set to meet families of hostages at 4 p.m. at his organization’s headquarters in Tel Aviv, Zo Haderech reports as calls for general strike mounts. The meeting comes with the Hostage and Missing Families Forum calling for a general strike to pressure the government into doing more to reach a deal to free the hostages.
Hadash supports the call for a general strike and according the Jewish-Arab front, “The only way to save the remaining hostages and stop the killing and destruction in Gaza and the occupied West Bank is a ceasefire deal. Netanyahu has been acting for months to prevent such a deal. The negotiation team and some ministers are saying this. It is apparent to all.”
On Saturday night, tens of thousands of Israelis protested the ruling fascist coalition and demand a Gaza deal to release hostages held by Hamas and an early election. Clashes erupt between protesters and cops in Tel Aviv following a rally for a hostage deal and against the government; several demonstrators were arrested. One of them, Natalie Atedgi, the sister of hostage Matan Zangauker, was injured and taken to a hospital after being hit by a mounted police officer on Begin Road. Her mother, Einav Zangauker, said earlier this evening that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is murdering the hostages” and sabotaging a deal with Hamas.
Earlier on Saturday, protesters gathered throughout the country — in Tzahala, at Nahalal Junction, Hemed, Hurfeish, Karkur, Zichron Yaakov, Herzliya, Rehovot, Haifa and elsewhere — wrapped in Israeli flags, holding signs calling for elections and for the release of the hostages.
In Nes Ziona, protests revolve around the start of school on September 1, centered around an exhibit of schoolbags featuring the faces of the preschooler Ariel Bibas and his baby brother, Kfir Bibas. Protesters line the side of the highway at Hemed Junction where a set of women sit with their eyes covered and wrists tied, symbolizing the female hostages held in Gaza. In Haifa, hundreds of people march, calling for elections and against Netanyahu’s government.
Hundreds lined the main street in Caesarea, where Netanyahu owns a second home, holding flags, drums and signs calling for the premier to be sent to jail. In nearby Karkur, protesters blocked the main intersection of the route 65 as they called for the government to be disbanded immediately. Police arrested one person.
Police also arrested four people outside the home of Education Minister Yoav Kisch in Hod Hasharon. The anti-government demonstrators refused to move away from his home to a police-designated protest spot. In recent days, anti-government demonstrators have attempted to skirt police orders blocking them from protesting outside the homes of government ministers and Likud MKs, by claiming to be having picnics in public areas.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32074
