Israeli hostage's mother Einav Zangauker announces entry to politics, considers joining Likud
Einav Zangauker, mother of now-freed hostage Matan Zangauker and one of the hostages' movement's most prominent activists, told Channel 12 that she believed the prime minister was still sending supporters to criticize her. The Likud said Netanyahu would not invite Zangauker to join
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'I Scare Netanyahu'
Einav Zangauker, mother of now-freed hostage Matan Zangauker and one of the hostages' movement's most prominent activists, told Channel 12 that she believed the prime minister was still sending supporters to criticize her. The Likud said Netanyahu would not invite Zangauker to join
Einav Zangauker at a protest calling for the release of the hostages, in 2024. Credit: Olivier Fitoussi
Einav Zangauker at a protest calling for the release of the hostages, in 2024. Credit: Olivier Fitoussi
02:15 AM • January 10 2026 IST
Einav Zangauker, who emerged as one of the Israeli hostages' movement's most prominent activists in the struggle for the release of her now-freed son Matan Zangauker, announced on Friday that she would enter politics and was not ruling out running in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party.
"The country can only be fixed by us, the citizens," Zangauker told television host Ofira Asayag on her Channel 12 program, citing a need for a complete systemic overhaul.
"The state bodies and the government are non-functional," she said. "On October 7, no one was there for the citizens, those who had to evacuate their homes, those who had to bury their loved ones. Everything's terrible."
The activist severely criticized the prime minister, continuing a stance she has held for the past two years as a onetime staunch supporter of Netanyahu.
"I scare him: I'm the one who voted for him from the moment I had the right to vote, I believed him – Mr. Security, Mr. Economy," she referred to Netanyahu's nicknames. "At the end of the day, he's the one who caused my son to remain captive for two years, to undergo physical and mental abuse," she said. "He's the one who considered political considerations first and foremost, instead of ending the war and giving me my child back."
