Two words – “Benjamin Netanyahu” – were enough to ignite Hostage Square in Tel Aviv and Israeli social media on Saturday night. The crowd erupted in boos when U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff mentioned the prime minister’s name, and what was meant to be a unifying, emotional evening ahead of a deal to return the hostages instantly turned into a political brawl.
Within hours, the uproar spread online. Ministers and Knesset members from the right condemned the crowd, calling the boos not only an insult to the prime minister but also disrespectful to the moment itself.
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Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff and Ivanka Trump at Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square, Saturday. Credit: Screengrab from X
Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff and Ivanka Trump at Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square, Saturday. Credit: Screengrab from X
Justice Minister Yariv Levin called the incident “a great disgrace,” while Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi described the crowd as “shameless and ungrateful.” Others accused protesters of exploiting the hostages’ families’ pain for political gain.
Right-wing commentators said the line between protest and vulgarity had been blurred. Media figures such as Yael Shevach and Akiva Novick complained that “this is why people like us don’t feel comfortable in the Hostage Square.” Journalist Amit Segal noted that the crowd didn’t boo when Witkoff mentioned Turkish President Erdoğan, but did when he said Netanyahu’s name.
הרגעים בהם וויטקוף ומשפחת קושנר-טראמפ מבינים עד כמה שנוא ביבי נתניהו בישראל, ובמיוחד בכיכר החטופים
Witkoff speaking at Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square, Saturday.
Social media users quickly countered that they have no expectations of Erdoğan to protect their personal safety, unlike Israel’s prime minister. Some said the crowd’s reaction was a natural outburst of long-simmering anger. “They’ve been shouting in the Hostage Square for two years – the only thing he heard was the booing,” one wrote.
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Journalist Nurit Canetti added: “Contempt can be expressed in many ways. By not calling the family of a hostage who came back dead. By ignoring the hostages’ families’ requests for meetings for months. By turning a blind eye to violence against the families and their supporters, or by calling them ‘militias.’ Contempt can be expressed by not turning your head when a father of a kidnapped soldier calls out, by saying the hostages ‘are suffering but not dying,’ or by miscounting them. There are many ways to show contempt. Only one of them is shouting ‘boo.'”
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And perhaps the outcry erupted because of the embarrassment in front of the American guests. As journalist Ilan Lukatz observed, Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff and Ivanka Trump “couldn’t hide their smiles.” The three appeared to understand what the Israeli public was angry about – perhaps better than Karhi and others, whose grasp of democratic norms seems to have eroded entirely.
“Citizens are never ‘ungrateful,” one user wrote. “A leader owes them, works for them and serves them. That’s how democracy works.” Another added: “Imagine what’ll happen when they realize that even after the deal, we still want a state commission of inquiry.”
“On October 7, residents of the Gaza border communities cried out for help and no one came,” one user wrote. “If only they had shouted ‘boo’ at Netanyahu, the entire government would have responded within seconds.”
Another wrote: “The hostages are going to feel so bad when they return and find out people booed Bibi in the square.”
And a third added: “Get used to it. People will boo when his name is mentioned even fifty years from now. We will not forget, and we will not forgive.”