The Israeli government is allegedly threatening the families of hostages taken to Gaza by Hamas on October 7.
At first it sounded like a conspiracy theory. After all, who would threaten those who have had their loved ones (some sick and some injured) ripped off to enemy territory and held hostage for more than six months? ?
However, officials close to the hostage families have revealed that the government has repeatedly threatened to lower the priority of their relatives in future hostage transactions against those who vociferously oppose the government. I made it.
The perversion of this, of course, is that the government doesn't want a hostage deal. That would damage the already dwindling base of the right wing, which is seeking a tough stance in the context of the Israel-Hamas war.
Ronen Tsuru, former president of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, was interviewed. jerusalem postHe said that although the forum is a bipartisan organization, the government is trying to recast it as a political campaign targeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Toole said the government views the forum as a threat and a nuisance because a hostage deal requires a high price and could hurt Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu politically.
Government officials warn hostage families
He said he was told by hostage families in February that government officials had warned him that he should be removed from the forum's leadership. Some said they were told that if they did not reduce public pressure, their loved ones might not be on the list of hostages to be released in a future deal.
Jackie Levy, an Israeli media personality whose three relatives are currently being held in Gaza, told Channel 13 this week that the government's “official spokesperson” spoke to the hostage families and said that “anyone who does not support this government “I told them I would be moved to an uncomfortable location,” he said.inside [hostage exchange] list. “
Levy said hostage families had long been “concerned” about what would happen to “those who spoke out against Prime Minister Netanyahu and the management of the government.”
And on Wednesday, Settlement and National Mission Minister Orit Strzok told Army Radio that the government was “abandoning national policy.” [war effort] Among the 133 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, 22 to 33 inches were thrown into a trash can to save them.
There is one thing this government has consistently made clear. Hostages are not the most important thing, and probably never were, even if politicians and ministers said they were.
It is true that a hostage deal would result in great losses for Israel. You have to give up a lot to bring them home. But these losses are exactly what we have been advocating all along, because these “enemies” respect death the same way we respect life. Now is the time for us to keep our promises and respect life.
The choice to turn away from this goal and focus instead on military achievements on the ground in Gaza is a setback on Israel's list of priorities and is dehumanizing to the hostages.
As it turns out, the government made a mistake. It turned the issue of the hostage exchange deal into a partisan dispute. This has resulted in the loss of a significant portion of the right-wing base that values the lives of those taken from us, and has shown the world that it does not recognize the very losses that the Israeli government cites as justification for the Gaza operation. It was shown to.
We cannot claim that the world does not care about hostages unless we ourselves show that we care about them.
The author is deputy editor-in-chief. Jerusalem Post.
