Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv and blocked highways and roads Sunday, a day after one American and five other hostages were murdered by Hamas as members of the Israeli Defense Forces closed in to rescue them.

According to CNN, many of the demonstrators expressed anger with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his refusal to broker a hostage deal with Hamas.

Network international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson – who was on the ground with protestors – said during the network’s Sunday coverage of the mass protests:

People here believe that the prime minister is looking out for his own political career and future because if the war ends – if there’s a deal and the war ends – he could find himself out of job as prime minister. If there was an election, he probably, or his coalition probably, wouldn’t be reelected. And if he was no longer prime minister, then it would face a number of criminal charges that are stacked up against him and pending. He can’t – those cases can’t go while he’s prime minister. So people believe that he is holding on not just as he says, because he thinks this is the best way to defeat Hamas. But because it’s his own political career that sustained. Those are the charges that many people believe and level against the prime minister.

As CBS News reported, six hostages were killed by Hamas Saturday as the IDF approached to rescue them from Rafah in Gaza. An American citizen named Hersh Goldberg-Polin was among the dead. Other victims were identified as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Ori Danino.

The massacre sparked outrage across Israel leading to mass civil disobedience, The Jerusalem Post noted:

Hundreds of thousands gather in Tel Aviv in mass protest, demanding an immediate hostage deal before more hostages are killed by Hamas. Protesters blocked the entrance to Jerusalem Sunday evening as others marched through the streets of Tel Aviv carrying coffins, protesting the abandonment of the hostages after the IDF confirmed that the bodies of six hostages had been retrieved from Gaza. The protesting mass has since shifted from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, with police managing to clear the entrance to Jerusalem after more than two hours of blockages.

As of Sunday evening, the mass protests in Tel Aviv and elsewhere had remained peaceful, CNN reported.

Watch above via CNN.

The post ‘Hundreds of Thousands’ Rage at Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Block Highways After Hamas Hostage Murders: PM ‘Looking Out for His Own Political Career’ first appeared on Mediaite.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/oPuhgDt