Families of hostages urge Netanyahu to remove election slogan — Jerusalem Post

In Israel, the families of hostages who died or were killed in captivity in Gaza have called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud party to stop using the slogan “we brought everyone home” in their election campaign. This was stated in an open letter published on Tuesday, The Jerusalem Post reports.

Accusations of exploiting the deaths of hostages

The letter’s authors said that Likud is using the deaths of their loved ones for political gain. They stressed that their relatives were not returned alive: their bodies were brought to Israel in coffins. The families also called for the dead not to be used in election propaganda.

In recent weeks, Netanyahu and Likud have presented the return of the hostages as one of the government’s main achievements, repeatedly using this wording in election messaging. Elections in Israel are scheduled for October 27. Critics of the slogan, including political opponents and the families of the dead, note that it ignores the deaths of dozens of people who were taken alive on October 7, 2023, and later returned to Israel in coffins.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

Demands to Netanyahu and Likud

In the letter, the families called on Netanyahu and Likud to withdraw from public life following the events of October 7, 2023. They demand that the prime minister apologize, take responsibility for the deaths of their loved ones, and establish a state commission to investigate the intelligence and security failures of that day.

The letter was signed by 28 relatives representing 17 families. The signatories include released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz, whose husband Oded was killed in Hamas captivity. Separately, the families of six hostages killed by Hamas in Rafah in August 2024 launched a billboard campaign under the slogan “We did not return home.”