Einav Zangauker (Hebrew: עינב צנגאוקר; IPA: einav t͡sãŋgaukeʁ̞, born December 3, 1978) is an activist in the Families' Headquarters for the Return of the Abducted and Missing and in the Kulanu Hatufim (All of Us Are Hostages) movement.[1] Her son Matan Zangauker was kidnapped by Hamas during the attack on October 7th and is being held in Gaza.[2][3]
Biography
Zangauker is a resident of Ofakim and worked as a higher education coordinator in the Ofakim Municipality's Education Directorate. She is a single mother to Matan and his two sisters, after divorcing his father Yaron in the 2000s.[4]
Activities for the release of the hostages
After her son Matan Zangauker was kidnapped by Hamas to Gaza with his partner, Ilana Gritzewsky, she began working at the Families' Headquarters for the Return of the Abducted and Missing for their return. Ilana was released from captivity in the hostage release deal in November 2023.
In November 2023, Zangauker met with Foreign Minister Israel Katz. Until December 2023, she participated several times in the call for the return of the kidnapped at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, without taking a political position.[5] In January 2024, she met, along with other families of the kidnapped, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. At the end of the meeting, she said: "I left less pessimistic than I went in, but there were no high hopes. I want to believe that the Prime Minister really means that Israel placed a blueprint in the hands of Qatar and not its own."
In February 2024, she began collaborating with activists protesting against the judicial reform who came to support the families of the kidnapped hostages, and to call for the overthrow of the government and holding elections. In this regard, she said: "I have been a right-wing woman all my life. I have always voted for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including in the last elections. But the almost only people who identify with me, who offer me real help, are the people of these organizations. [...] Those who came out to demonstrate against the judicial reform are the ones who are now giving me a shoulder, who are containing me."[6]
Since then, she has been demonstrating regularly in front of the Begin Gate at HaKirya in Tel Aviv, along with her daughter Natalie and Matan's partner, Ilana Gritzewsky.[2][7] During a demonstration in front of HaKirya in early February 2024, she was physically attacked by a passersby. A few days later, she and other relatives of Matan Zangauker were injured by a water cannon that the Israel Police used against them.[8] At a demonstration in front of HaKirya in March 2024, she asked to speak with Minister Avi Dichter, who refused. Police officers tried to remove her from Dichter's vehicle, and one of them kicked her.[9] In April 2024, she again called for an end to the war and the return of the abductees, and noted that Netanyahu's poison machine was being used against the families of the abductees: "All his mouthpieces speak about us, the families of the hostages, with words that are derogatory, disrespectful, and disrespectful to public figures."[10] In May 2024, her daughter, Natalie Zangauker, was attacked by police during a demonstration in front of HaKirya, and was treated in a hospital. She was summoned for police questioning and banned from "illegal demonstrations" for 15 days.[11][12]
On Memorial Day 2024, she spoke with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who came as a government representative to the Ofakim cemetery,[13] and again called for the government to be dissolved due to the failure to return the hostages.[14]
Recognition
In May 2024, Zangauker lit the "Torch of Hope" at a torch-lighting ceremony and lighting of hope at the Shoni Amphitheater.[7]
The Jewish National Fund launched the "Path of Heroes" in Ofakim Park, which features the stories of the "heroic women of war," including that of Zangauker.[15]
She received the 2024 "Truth to Power" award in recognition of her work on behalf of the hostages.[16]
In November 2024, the writer Aryeh Krishek published the poem "Mother of the Kidnapped," dedicated to Zangauker and the cry of the mothers of the kidnapped.
In December 2024, she was ranked, along with two other Israeli women, Anat Hoffman and Daniel Cantor, on the BBC's list of 100 Most Influential Women for 2024.[17][18]
