Hostage Rallies Part of New Political Landscape

Jacob Skor was among the early arrivals in Tel Aviv at a rally for the Israel hostages I attended late in June. The 23-year-old American college student was right up front standing against the barrier that separated him from the large, well-equipped stage at the Saturday night rally, which has become a regular fixture of life in the city.

In addition to the elaborate setup for the rally, the open-air setting, which has come to be called Hostage Square, is home to a number of ambitious tributes to the captives, One of the displays is an empty dinner table set for a Friday night Sabbath celebration with an empty chair for each of the 120 hostages who are still in Gaza. The space has become a must-see attraction for visitors to the city.

For Skor, who is working in Israel this summer after finishing his first year of law school, the rally is part of his belief that public pressure is an essential part of the effort to bring the remaining hostages back to Israel alive. Despite all that Tel Aviv offers on a Saturday night in the summer, he says he’s here every week.

“I think it’s important for … people to keep the hostages in mind all the time. It’s been more than nine months now that they’ve been in Gaza’s horrible conditions. I don’t want the hostages to be pushed into the background and people for them.”

These rallies, regularly sponsored by an organization called the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum, have attracted 100,000 people or more to the square and video recordings of the events can be seen online.

One of the area’s most important neighbors is Israel’s version of the Pentagon, the national headquarters of the Israel Defense Forces. For many, the square has become a focal point for a slogan that is seen all over Israel this summer, both in English and Hebrew, “Bring The Hostages Home Now.”

Large hostage rallies, which have sometimes attracted more than 100,000 protestors, have developed into an important part of Israel’s political landscape.

Skor has brought along a hastily handwritten sign in English that reads simply, “Bring Oded Lifshitz Home.” The sign reflects the unrelenting attempt to personalize the fate of those who are still held in Gaza. In Skor’s case, he learned about the hostage, who is 83, when Skor met Lifshitz’s granddaughter through his work with Birthright Onward.

The program brings graduates of the iconic Birthright program to Israel as interns in the nation’s professions and businesses. Although the Birthright Onward program is not involved in Saturday rallies, the work they do to bring young people from around the world to work, side by side with Israelis, has helped Skor to understand his connection to Jewish life.

“It’s been an amazing experience that’s really allowed me to reconnect with my Jewish roots, something that would never have happened if I stayed in America this summer. It’s just been great.”

Among the hostages featured at the Tel Aviv rally was Naama Levi. She was a communication specialist serving with the IDF at an outpost near Israel border with Gaza. It is believed that she may have been sexually assaulted before she was taken to Gaza and for many, she has become a symbol of the violence against women that was a part of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Her father, Yoni spoke about his daughter to the crowd on what would have been Levy’s 20th birthday.

The rally celebrated the 20th birthday of hostage Naama Levi, who has become a symbol of the sexual violence of Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7.

“I remember your laughter and can hear your voice, imagining exactly what you’d be doing today. We would have prepared a table for you, full of sweets, balloons, and gifts. Like every year,” her father said. “How happy this day could have been. Instead, you’re there. In darkness. For 260 days already. And we stand here.”

Large rallies like these are part of what is seen by some as a transformation of Israel’s political life as a result of the Oct. 7 attack. The nation remains sharply divided over the political future of the country. That is seen by many as likely to grow as the war in Gaza winds down and the fate of the hostages is finally settled.

A reported survey by social researchers at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem concluded that the continuing campaign to free the hostages has hit home with those Israelis who would like to see political change.

For Nimrod Nir, a political psychologist with the Truman Research Institute at the university, it’s just one part of what he believes are important changes to come as Israel faces the security questions the Hamas attack has raised.

“The hostage protests,” Nir said, “are a pivotal point for other types of protests to emerge.”