Families of slain Gaza hostages demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud Party immediately halt their use of the election slogan We brought everyone home,
pointing out that their loved ones returned in coffins ahead of the upcoming October 27 vote.
The open letter, published on Tuesday, brings sharp friction to the closing days of the election campaign. Netanyahu and his party have repeatedly framed the return of captives as a major government success, deploying the slogan We brought everyone home
to defend their record. Bereaved families argue that the phrasing erases the grim reality of how many captives actually returned, noting that Likud is using the deaths of their loved ones for political gain.
Do not use their deaths to ask the public for another term. You did not bring our loved ones back. Their bodies returned in coffins. No election campaign can erase this fact,
the families wrote, according to international reporting of the letter. Netanyahu’s supporters, meanwhile, see the return of the hostages as a major achievement.
Signatories Condemn Political Exploitation of Captive Deaths
The letter carries the signatures of 28 relatives representing 17 families whose loved ones were killed or died while held in Gaza. Among the signatories is released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz, whose husband, Oded, was murdered in captivity. Prominent family members who added their names include Adi Marciano, mother of Noa Marciano; Dikla and Yonatan Shamriz, representing Alon Shamriz, who was accidentally killed by military fire in Gaza.
The families accused the political leadership of attempting to whitewash the failure, evade accountability, and rewrite history.
The open letter characterized the October 7, 2023, attack as the greatest failure in the history of the State of Israel.
Out of 251 people abducted to the Gaza Strip that day, 46 were taken alive but did not survive their captivity. According to the families, political decisions left those individuals to die when opportunities to save them existed.
If you have even a drop of humanity left in you, stop using our loved ones for election propaganda. Do not use their deaths to ask the public for another term in office. You did not bring our loved ones home. Their bodies returned in coffins.
Families of slain Gaza hostages, via Jpost
Detractors contend that the administration cannot frame their repatriation as a political triumph without owning up to the blunders that resulted in their fatalities and assuming accountability for them. The relatives noted that their family members might have been present today, embracing them, sharing laughter, and going about their everyday lives.
Billboard Campaign Launches Along the Highway
Alongside the open letter, the families of six hostages killed in Rafah in August 2024 launched a visual public campaign. The campaign centers on a stark counter-slogan: We did not return home!
The billboard push mirrors the core message of the letter: that painting hostage returns as an unvarnished political victory ignores the dozens who came back dead. Relatives of those killed, including Michal Lubnov and Nira Sarusi, publicly questioned why the government claims credit for a rescue when the captives were returned lifeless, stating that the government should have been proud only if they had returned the hostages alive.
Demands for Accountability Before the October 27 Election
The letter demands concrete accountability from the prime minister before voters head to the polls on October 27. The families called on Netanyahu and Likud to step down from public life, issue an apology, and take personal responsibility for the security failures of October 7. They also demanded the immediate establishment of a state commission of inquiry to investigate the intelligence breakdowns that preceded the massacre.
While Netanyahu’s political supporters view the return of any captives as a vindication of government policy, the bereaved families insist that no campaign slogan can bridge the gap between a living homecoming and a return in a coffin.
If you are incapable of taking responsibility for the deaths of our loved ones, at least do not try to earn political capital out of their graves.
Families of slain Gaza hostages, via Jpost
The letter concluded with a vow that the public will not be allowed to forget the fate of those who perished, closing with the words: We will not let you forget them.