April 8, 2024 (EIRNS)—Some 50,000 Israelis demonstrated outside the Knesset on April 7, demanding the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secure the release of the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas. The rally was organized by Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the organization representing the relatives of the hostages. They also organized rallies in other major capitals and cities, including New York, Berlin, London and Washington, D.C.
The rally was to mark six months of the hostages’ captivity since Oct. 7, 2023 and was supposed to be politically neutral, but protesters expressed strong anti-government sentiments, and large sections of the crowd repeatedly broke into chants against Netanyahu, reflecting Israelis’ growing frustration over the government’s inability or unwillingness to negotiate freedom for the captives.
The anti-government tone intensified as Yehuda Cohen, father of the captive soldier Nimrod Cohen, tore into the government, demanding Netanyahu resign, causing the crowd to jeer with each mention of the prime minister’s name. Following Cohen’s speech, rally emcee actor Lior Ashkenazi tried to remind the 50,000 of the Forum’s commitment to neutrality.
