Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that the nationwide strikes in support of the hostages in Hamas captivity on Sunday were delaying their release and preventing the war from coming to an end.
Netanyahu’s statements came at the government security cabinet meeting that took place amid the strikes. They also echoed the various criticisms from coalition MKs, who slammed the protest, with many claiming that the demonstrations were aiding the Hamas terror group by dividing the country.
Netanyahu claimed that the protests were “hardening Hamas’s position and delaying the release of our hostages.”
He added that the strikes were “also ensuring that the horrors of October 7 will repeat themselves and that we will have to fight a war without end.”
The October Council, a forum of hostages’ families and bereaved families, announced the nationwide strike a week earlier in protest of the security cabinet’s decision to occupy Gaza City, which they said would endanger the lives of the hostages and soldiers.
The council slammed Netanyahu’s statement in return, stating that “the way to prevent another disaster like October 7 is by establishing a state commission of inquiry that will investigate the failures and shortcomings and enable correction and the drawing of conclusions.”
“It is time for the prime minister to listen to the cry of the people and the cry of the families. It is time to bring back all the hostages and establish a state commission of inquiry in order to prevent the next disaster,” the statement added.
The Hostage Family Forum also strongly criticized the prime minister, saying, “Netanyahu, for 22 months now the hostages have been languishing in Gaza – on your watch. Instead of deceiving the public, spreading spins, and slandering the hostages’ families, bring our loved ones back in a deal and end the war.”
“Today, the people of Israel came out in their hundreds of thousands into the streets. Thousands of businesses, large and small, closed their gates and enabled workers to join one clear call – solidarity, mutual responsibility, and the return of our loved ones,” the statement added.
Responses to Netanyahu
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich responded positively to Netanyahu, in a significant shift after threatening to leave the government last week due to disagreeing with the prime minister’s Gaza occupation plan.
Smotrich noted that perhaps Netanyahu “took the media seriously,” feeling as though the people were not with him.
“Today you saw, along with all of Israel, that the people are with you,” he continued.
“Mr. Prime Minister, together, with God’s help, let us bring absolute victory to the people of Israel even before winter,” Smotrich concluded.
Opposition MKS condemned Netanyahu’s statements at the security cabinet meeting.
The Democrats’ chairman, Yair Golan, stated that the prime minister “lies like he breathes: he is the man who repeatedly refused to eliminate Hamas leaders before October 7, who funneled hundreds of millions of dollars from Qatar to finance tunnels and weapons that threaten our hostages.”
“The same Netanyahu who strengthened Hamas then is the one strengthening Hamas today,” he added.
Former National Unity MK and former IDF chief Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Gadi Eisenkot criticized Netanyahu, calling on him to “step aside.”
“After 681 opportunities to end the war by defeating Hamas, instead of listening to the cries of the survivors from Hamas’s tunnels, the prime minister of October 7 is running a fear campaign against a brave and perceptive public, threatening them with ‘the next October 7,’” Eisenkot wrote on his personal Facebook page.
“Whoever does not know how to protect the State of Israel from the return of such horrors should step aside,” he added.