From the Times of Israel:
“‘Our patience is up’: Hostages’ families blast government
inaction at Tel Aviv rally”
(Families and friends of Israelis held hostage in Gaza hold a
rally outside the Tel Aviv Art Museum on October 26, 2023.)
The families of some of the 224 hostages believed to be held
in the Gaza Strip by Palestinian terrorists held a press conference Thursday to
protest what they charged was government inaction and failure to update them on
the efforts to secure the release of their loved ones, warning that their
patience had run out. The event at the Tel Aviv Museum plaza began with two
marches from Egypt’s embassy and at Kaplan Square — the site of weekly protests
against the current government’s highly controversial judicial overhaul plan,
which along with the regular rallies has been shelved since the shock October 7
Hamas onslaught in which some 1,400 people were murdered and at least 228 were
abducted to Gaza.
“Free them now!” the families chanted in English, with one
relative urging global human rights groups to support them and their campaign. “They’ve
been there for 20 days. Twenty days in which we’ve had no idea how they’re
doing, how they’re being treated, if they’re okay, if they’re breathing. Twenty
days. Can you imagine? Because we’re living it day after day, all of us,” said
Meirav Leshem-Gonen, whose 23-year-old daughter Romi was kidnapped from the
site of the Supernova music festival near Re’im, where 260 were butchered. “We’ve
been very, very patient. But that’s it. Our patience is up. Our patience has
run out,” she added.
(Families and friends of Israelis held hostage in Gaza hold a
rally outside the Tel Aviv Art Museum on October 26, 2023.)
Similar dissatisfaction was expressed by Eyal Eshel, whose
19-year-old daughter Roni had been a member of the IDF communications team that
watched the Gaza border cameras before the barrier and her base were breached
and she went missing. “Roni is my child, she [was taken] under your watch,
under your responsibility,” lamented her father, who believes Roni was
kidnapped despite officials not confirming this yet. “Twenty days and the
government of Israel is mute. Twenty days and nobody is telling us what
happened to her, what her fate was. “What have you been doing every day? What
are doing all day? I’m demanding one thing — get up from your chairs, try to
put yourselves in my place and take responsibility. Don’t turn your back on me.
All of us are out of patience,” he said.
Some participants took aim at the government’s point-person
on the matter of the hostages, Gal Hirsch, who has been criticized by diplomats
as ineffective in hostage talks thus far and who families say has failed to
contact them beyond the bare minimum. “Are you able to bring them back? Then do
it. Are you unable to? Then give the responsibility to someone else. The window
of opportunity is closing,” said one participant at the rally.
(A Shabbat table set for 224 people in Times Square, New
York, on October 26, 2023, symbolizing the plight of the hostages held captive
in Gaza.)
Orit Meir, the mother of 21-year-old Almog Meir Jan who was
kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from the Re’im music rave, addressed Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly. “Bibi, now is the time to make a deal and
return all the hostages to Israel. I am begging you. Try and imagine that it
was your son who was kidnapped into Gaza.” Another demonstration raising
awareness about the plight of the hostages took place in New York City’s Times
Square where the Israeli-American Council set up an empty Shabbat table to
symbolize the 224 hostages being held captive in Gaza.
The government is facing mounting pressure not just from the
hostages’ families but from countries abroad whose citizens are also among
those being held in Gaza and have privately been urging Jerusalem to
temporarily delay a ground incursion to allow more time for diplomatic efforts
to release the captives, a senior diplomatic official told The Times of Israel
earlier this week.
^ 21 days since the Hamas Terrorists kidnapped around 224
Israeli, American and Other Men, Women and Children from Israel and brought
them to Gaza.
More needs to be done by the International Community to BRING
THEM HOME! ^
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