Former minister Izhar Shay, father of Staff Sgt. Yaron Oree "Nonni" Shay, who was killed in action on October 7, spoke Saturday evening at the rally in Hostages Square.
"My hero Nonni, we will never find solace, we will never forget, and we will never forgive," he said.
"We hope that as many as possible of those scum of humanity who came to destroy us on that accursed day, those responsible for your fall, have found their death.
"And those of them who are now sitting in prison, we will be glad to know that they are rotting and suffering every moment, glad to know that justice is being served upon them. A death sentence would be a relatively light punishment for the terrible suffering they have caused us, for the wound that will never heal.
"But, our beloved Nonni, the State of Israel not only owes us the pursuit of justice, which we so deserve. It also owes this justice to the 134 hostages and to their 134 families. And this justice means that the State of Israel must bring them all back home."
He added, "All of them: the young and the elderly, the female soldiers and the male soldiers, the women and the men, even the dead. The State of Israel must bring them all home, Nonni. And the sands of time are running against them, against us. Time is running out. The lives of those who are still with us are in immediate danger."
"And therefore, Nonni, my beloved, that is why we announced this week, Mom and I, that if we need to release the scum of humanity, the subhuman who caused your heroic death, if we need to return him so that he can join his abhorrent murderous brothers somewhere in their rats' nest in Gaza, we - the mother and father of the heroic soldier Staff Sgt. Yaron Oree Shay - we will give moral and ethical support to the government ministers and to the one who leads them, to make this painful decision.
"Our Nonni, you together with your brothers in arms, the heroes of glory, defended the State of Israel and its citizens with your bodies. You paid the most terrible price, and so did we, all of us.
"But the task is not yet completed. Your sacrifice saved the State of Israel on that day, but hundreds of our sisters and brothers were taken hostage by these monsters. And until they are back here with us, we will have no peace, no solace. And there will be no victory, not complete, not partial, not at all.
"There is no victory, only one great loss as long as they have not all returned home - all of them.
"You are not with us, Nonni, and each day that passes drives the arrow of pain and terrible longing into our hearts anew. But our hope, the hope of all of us, is to see the hostages returning home. For then we will know, we your mother and father - Nonni, and with us your entire family and the parents and families of the hundreds of heroes who sacrificed their lives in this war - that you did not fall in vain. That you not only saved lives but also saved the hope for their return home.
"In your name, our Nonni, our beloved, our hero, in the name of our entire family that misses you so much, I stand here today to strengthen the hands of the Prime Minister and the ministers of the War Cabinet as they make decisions too difficult to bear: You have the moral right and the leadership duty is upon you to pay the required price in order to bring them home.
"Please, bring them home, all of them. Now."