At Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, a weekly ritual of grief, hope and community

Calgary Herald

2 days ago

Tel Aviv — Every Saturday night, scores of Israelis (along with some tourists) stream into the courtyard of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, which has become known as Hostages Square, to commune and to call for the return of people held captive in Gaza.
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As of last Saturday's rally, Hamas still held around 58 of its 251 initial hostages, some alive and some believed dead. Speakers at Hostages Square that night included former hostage Naama Levy and family members of other Hamas victims.
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'In captivity, I saw thousands of people standing here, wrapped in flags, shouting, singing, holding pictures of the hostages — of my picture. It made me feel that I wasn't forgotten. That it wasn't over. That I would return,' Levy told the crowd, according to a translation.
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The hostages rally is actually one of two regular, well-attended Saturday night protests in Tel Aviv; the other, a kilometre away at Habima Square, is explicitly political: they want the 'corrupt government' of Benjamin Netanyahu gone. It's part of the same movement that began before October 7, protesting Netanyahu's proposals to limit judicial power, among other things.
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As attendees flooded out of the square after last Saturday's rally, National Post editor-in-chief Rob Roberts spoke to Nili Gefen about why she comes.
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I come here every Saturday, especially because at first we came because I thought it would make my government do something to bring them back. Now I come so the families don't feel so alone.
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I don't know, after 600 days almost, I don't know if this will change what the government does, but I do hope the families don't feel so alone with their pain. Yeah, so it's important we come here, not only sometimes. September, when the six hostages were murdered, we came every night. You know, we have children, jobs and things like that, but this is a terrible, terrible reality that I hope will change soon for everybody.
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You talk about first coming here to try to send a message to the government. Obviously, you don't think they've listened. What did you want the government to do?