Thousands protested across Israel in demand of the release of hostages held in Gaza and against the far-right government on Saturday night, October 19. Two separate protests were held in Tel Aviv. The first, organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, was held at Hostages Square near the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. The second, led by anti-government hostages’ families and left-wing activists, was held outside the Israeli army headquarters at Begin Road.
In a joint statement outside the defense ministry and ahead of the protests, the families said that “the goal of the war – creating conditions for the return of hostages – has been achieved; now we must secure a deal to bring everyone home.” “After a year of Netanyahu ruthlessly obstructing the return of hostages, it’s time to present a new Israeli initiative for their release and to end the war. We see signs that he wants to prolong the conflict, while his allies are focused on establishing settlements in Gaza instead of leveraging the gains to return our loved ones through a deal,” they added.
“Stop the bloodshed”, demonstrators outside the Israeli army headquarters at Begin Road, Tel-Aviv, Saturday night, October 19, 2024 (Photo: Mauricio Lapchik)
About 3,000 activists gathered for an anti-government, pro-hostage deal protest on Tel Aviv’s Begin Road, outside the IDF headquarters. The Begin Road rally typically features overtly anti-government slogans and is attended by hostage relatives who are more outspokenly critical of the far-right government.
Several members of the crowd hoist banners from left-wing groups, including Hadash and the Communist Party of Israel, Breaking the Silence, which collects testimonies of human rights abuses from soldiers who served in the occupied territories and Israeli-Palestinian women’s movement Women Wage Peace, whose founder Vivian Silver was murdered at her home in Kibbutz Be’eri during the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023.
Other large regular rallies were also held in Kiryat Gat, the southern Shaar HaNegev junction, and near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, and smaller rallies were held in interchanges across the country. In Caesarea, another protest against the government, followed a drone attack earlier in the day. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the drone targeted the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Meanwhile, no protest will take place in Haifa for the fourth consecutive week due to gathering restrictions imposed by the Home Front Command on Israel’s north. However, the police brutally attacked a protest vigil at Central Carmel in the city. Activists from the Anti-Occupation Bloc, among them Hadash activists, demanded the end of the deadly war in Gaza and Lebanon and one protested was arrested.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32161