Demonstrators canceled a large demonstration planned for Saturday night in favor of the release of the hostages.
18:07•Updated 18:13
TEL AVIV About a thousand protesters gathered outside the headquarters of the Israel Defense Forces in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening.
The demonstration demanding the release of the kidnapped Israelis would have gathered thousands of people if the organizers had not canceled it.
An event for thousands of people in Tel Aviv would have been too dangerous. Iran and its allies Hezbollah and Hamas threaten to attack Israel in retaliation for Israeli assassinations.
– We are worried. We’re trying to stay safe. I fixed up my safe room, got food and a backup power source, he says Shaywho, despite the security situation, has come to the place.
Anti-government demonstrations have at their best gathered tens of thousands of demonstrators in Tel Aviv.
Even now there is indignation in the air.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that he will do everything for a ceasefire agreement. Still, he decided to assassinate one of the other side’s key negotiators, the leader of Hamas to Ismail Haniyeh.
– The government should do everything possible to get the hostages home right away. It is more important than continuing this war, says Daria middle-aged woman holding a sign.
Dari knows the families of the abductees personally. Many families have been very active in the protest movement.
– We suspect that the prime minister has a secret agenda. The extreme right is pressuring him (to continue the war) and Netanyahu is doing it because he wants to remain prime minister, says Shai.
Sources: The calls between Netanyahu and Biden are tense
Based on newspaper reports, it seems that Netanyahu has angered not only the protesters but also the President of the United States.
Several media outlets are citing an unnamed source from the US administration. According to the source, Netanyahu and the president Joe Biden the last phone calls between them have been very tense.
According to the source, Biden would have told Netanyahu on Thursday evening that he should stop talking potash, in English ‘Stop bullshitting me’.
Just days before the assassination of the Hamas leader, Netanyahu met with Biden at the White House. Netanyahu had assured that he would work for a ceasefire.
Israel did not consult the United States before the assassination of the Hamas leader.
– Don’t take the (US) president’s support for granted, President Biden said to Netanyahu at the end of a phone call, according to an official source.