[IsraelTimes] Dozens of relatives of the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response ...
hostages along with their supporters blocked off the main highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Friday, protesting government inaction in returning the abductees.
The demonstrators burned barrels set up in the middle of the highway and held up signs with pictures of their loved ones, calling on Israel to do more to reach an elusive deal.
Police and firefighters then moved in to disperse the demonstrators and douse the flames.
While the demonstrators placed the onus on the Israeli government, CIA chief Bill Burns in a rare public comment placed the blame on Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", for the deadlocked negotiations, saying the terror group had rejected the latest proposal.
"It was a deep disappointment to get a negative reaction from Hamas," Burns said at an event at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas.
"Right now, it’s that negative reaction that really is standing in the way of innocent civilians in Gaza getting humanitarian relief that they so desperately need," he said.
Burns said he could not guarantee that the talks will succeed.
"And it breaks your heart because you can see in very human terms what’s at stake here as well," he said.
| Earlier in the day, the sea in which the fish swim: |
As Hostages’ Square rally seeks unity, some families look for help from union instead
[IsraelTimes] Mass rally marked by apolitical stance bringing together people from various walks of life, but smaller group backing more extreme action demands labor body call nationwide strike
Thousands in Tel Aviv gathered Thursday night for a "unity rally" put on by the main umbrella group representing families of hostages held in Gazoo, but any idea of consensus was belied by some hostage families opting to instead participate in a smaller anti-government protest. The concurrent events, just a few blocks apart from each other in the heart of Tel Aviv, provided a window into growing rifts among hostage families lobbying for their loved ones’ freedom, as some have strayed from the forum’s non-partisanship to point a finger at the government for the difficulty in reaching a deal and call for new elections.
With the goal of "uniting all sectors of Israeli society" to demand the release of those in Hamas
 ...the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
captivity, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum brought together a diverse crowd of secular and religious Israelis to Hostages’ Square to hear from hostages’ family members, rabbis, parents of fallen soldiers and residents of the Gaza Envelope communities.
Missing from the panoply were several hostage families and their supporters who have shifted to more direct criticism of the government in recent weeks. They instead marched from military headquarters to the offices of the powerful Histadrut labor federation, demanding its chairman, Arnon Bar-David, call a general strike to push the government into signing a hostage deal with Hamas.
At Hostages’ Square, most speakers refrained from discussing how Israel should go about freeing the captives in Gaza, whether through an agreement or warfare, focusing more on the rhetoric of unity before the Passover holiday.
"There is no right, no left, there is no religious, traditional or secular. We all want to see them home," said Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau near the rally’s outset. "We are all united in worry, love and care for each and every one who is not home, for those who were kidnapped."
Moran Zer Katzenstein, chair of the Women Wage Peace movement and a secular Israeli, reached across the aisle to the religious public in a speech that referenced a passage from the Torah urging action on the hostages issue.
"In addition to prayer, the Torah says that we must make an effort," she said. "Each one of us should check what effort we are making to return the hostages now."
’SHUTDOWN OR ABANDONMENT’
Outside Tel Aviv’s Kirya military headquarters, hundreds of protesters led by a handful of hostages’ family members explicitly demanded a deal, taking a harsher stance towards the government and mincing no words while calling for a complete shutdown of the Israeli economy until the captives’ release.
Miri Gross, one of the chant leaders at the demonstration, said she felt that the rally in Hostages’ Square would not push hard enough for a negotiated deal because of its inclusion of right-wing activists who back the government. She told The Times of Israel that the march to Histadrut headquarters represented a "true protest," designed to put pressure on the government.
At the front of the crowd Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan Zangauker was taken captive in Gaza, worked to unfurl a banner with the slogan "shutdown or abandonment" written on it. Over the past couple of months, Zangauker has made a name for herself as a former Likud voter turned vocal critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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