'They returned in coffins': Families of slain hostages call on Netanyahu to drop election slogan

The bereaved families accused the Likud of exploiting hostages' deaths for political gain by using the phrase "we brought everyone home" as part of its election campaigning.

Families of slain Gaza hostages urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud Party to stop using the phrase “we brought everyone home” in their election campaign in an open letter published on Tuesday.

The families, whose loved ones were killed or murdered in Hamas captivity in Gaza, accused the ruling party of exploiting their deaths for political gain. "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," the families wrote.

"If you have even a drop of humanity left in you, stop using our loved ones for election propaganda," they added.

Netanyahu and the Likud have presented the return of the hostages as a major achievement in recent weeks, repeatedly using the phrase “we brought everyone home” as part of their election messaging. The slogan casts the hostages' return as a success for the government, as Netanyahu seeks to defend his government's record ahead of the October 27 election.

The phrase has drawn criticism from political opponents and bereaved families, who argue that it overlooks the fact that dozens of hostages taken alive on October 7, 2023, died in captivity and were returned to Israel in coffins. Critics argue that the government cannot portray their return as a political victory without acknowledging the failures that led to their deaths and taking responsibility for them.

Netanyahu's supporters, meanwhile, see the return of the hostages as a major achievement. The dispute over the slogan has become part of the broader political debate over the government’s handling of the war and its responsibility for the October 7 massacre.

Families to Netanyahu: Don't earn political capital off our children's graves

In their letter, the families also called on Netanyahu and Likud to step aside from public life following the October 7 massacre. They said Netanyahu should "stand up, apologize, take responsibility," and establish a state commission of inquiry into Israel’s intelligence and security failures on October 7.

"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," the families added.

The letter was signed by 28 family members representing 17 families whose loved ones were killed or died in captivity in Gaza. The signatories include released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz, whose husband, Oded, was murdered in Hamas captivity.

In addition to the letter, the families of the six hostages murdered by Hamas in Rafah in August 2024 launched a billboard campaign featuring the faces of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Carmel Gat, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, and Ori Danino, under the slogan “We did not come home.”