Hostage pictures were hung on the fence of the municipal pool in Mitzpe Ramon, a town in the Negev, and in response yesterday (Tuesday) the local council announced that signs, notices and stickers hung anywhere other than a bulletin board - must be removed.
A post published on the council's official Facebook page - which drew angry reactions - stated that "We will not allow signs to be hung anywhere else in the public space, regardless of the content. The signs will be removed immediately and the person who hangs them will be charged a fine."
In a conversation with Ynet, the spokeswoman of the council clarified that signs and pictures of hostages will not be removed by the council itself, rather whoever put them up is asked to remove them.
In response to the municipality's post, Erez Wallach, who was evacuated to Mitzpe Ramon from Kibbutz Erez following the October 7 massacre, wrote that "the issue of the hostage signs hurts me personally. I have friends who were abducted. I would have expected a little more empathy for the residents of the Gaza envelope."
Tamar Kessler Malmud reacted angrily: "Regardless of the fact that I think there will be no victory here and that this is an empty slogan, empty of content and disconnected from reality, I think that the situation of the hostages is of the utmost importance. A hostage sign is not merely a picture, it is a direct window onto to the daily nightmare that we are going through. It's a cry for help and you want to turn a blind eye to their pain. You're weak, you're hypocrites."
