At polling stations, Oct. 7 families will ask Israelis to vote with victims in mind

Families of October 7 victims will stand outside polling stations on Election Day, holding signs about their loved ones and asking voters to remember the hostages, murdered, and fallen soldiers. The non-partisan initiative follows a letter accusing Netanyahu of using the hostages for election propaganda.

Families of victims of the October 7, 2023, attack are organizing a non-partisan initiative to stand outside polling stations across Israel on Election Day, October 27. They will hold signs about their loved ones, asking voters to remember those taken hostage, murdered, or killed in the ensuing war. Participants include Yocheved Lifshitz, who was taken hostage with her husband Oded, who was later murdered in captivity; Yona Adam, whose daughter Mapal was killed at the Nova rave; and Hadas Kalderon, whose mother and niece were killed and whose ex-husband and children were taken hostage and later freed. The initiative comes days after relatives of 17 hostages killed in Gaza accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Likud of using their loved ones for political purposes, demanding they stop suggesting all hostages were brought home as part of their election campaign. Netanyahu has repeatedly taken credit for bringing back all hostages without acknowledging that 46 returned in coffins. The October 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. A Zman Yisrael poll published Thursday gave Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar 23 seats to Likud's 21, with neither bloc projected to reach a majority.