Day 331 Of The War: Devastating News

The demonstration in Kaplan last night felt especially urgent. The thousands of people who attended were filled with anger and frustration. Some even interrupted the speakers on stage with calls for action, while others made a lot of noise blowing their whistles. This Shabbat, a demonstration took place after the scandalous decision by the prime minister and his cabinet to block yet another prospective hostage deal by insisting on staying on the Philadelphi Route. Yoav Gallant, the Minister of Security, warned the cabinet members not to endanger the lives of the hostages. He said, “The prime minister can bring any decision he wishes to a vote in this cabinet, including one to kill the hostages.” Unfortunately, the cabinet did not heed Gallant’s warning.

This was the backdrop at Kaplan, where Yair Golan, the head of the Democratic Party, delivered a very strong and passionate speech. He said that our future depends on understanding the urgency of the situation and our ability to imagine a better future. Tyranny prevails where oppression succeeds, and oppression succeeds only when we despair. We won’t despair because we hold on to hope. There were other good speeches yesterday, and I felt that in such a dark time, speaking about hope was important. A young woman, Nofar Gilor, a teacher originally from Kibbutz Holit in the south, who lost three of her students on October 7, spoke about the loss and the importance of teaching as the most optimistic profession. Her words touched my heart. In the middle of the night, a friend sent me a list of names of six young hostages whom we all knew to be alive. It seems that in the last 48 hours, Hamas murdered them. It was tragic and inconceivable. This corrupt Netanyahu government abandoned them once again. This morning, on September 1st, the first day of school, we woke up to a devastating reality. In the middle of the morning, the sky darkened, and it rained. It was as though the world cried with all of us for Carmel, Hersh, Eden, Alexander, Almog, and Ori, who were murdered by Hamas after being kidnapped almost a year ago.

Tonight, we will stand with the families, in front of Begin Gate, in Tel Aviv to protest for the return remaining hostages and for the removal of this government.