Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense committee chair Yuli Edelstein on Monday, removed from the committee room, the brother of an Israeli hostage held in Gaza since October 7, because he was wearing a yellow star, claiming he was demeaning the memory of the Holocaust.
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In what became a heated argument, Dani Elgarat, brother of Itzik Elgarat who is being held captive in Gaza, requested permission to speak refused to remove the star. "I feel like a Holocaust survivor. You won't tell me what to wear,"
Edelstein the alluded to the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 as the cause of the Hamas massacre. "You know, in 2005, I was among the leaders in the struggle against disengagement from Gaza. Perhaps if we had succeeded, you would not be sitting here," he told Elgarat.
The brother of the hostage said he insists on speaking. "I won't leave. I'll speak here with my yellow star because what I see is a train arriving for the captives, and you're deciding who will live and who will die. I'll sit here and speak, and you'll respect me! I'm not leaving." But the chairman called on Knesset ushers to take him out of the room. "No one wearing a yellow star will speak in my committee."
Edelstein later said that he had always hosted families of hostages in his committee. "The committee provided a platform whenever possible. This has been the case, and it will continue as long as even one captive remains in the hands of Hamas murderers. However, as a son of Holocaust survivors, as someone who was imprisoned in a Soviet prison for being Jewish, I have zero tolerance for trivializing the Holocaust," he said.
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Knesset Usher removes brother of hostage from committee room on orders from chairman Yuli Edelstein
(Photo: Knesset channel)
"The massacre we endured was horrific, and its repercussions are something we continue to grapple with today and for many years to come. Every murdered victim resides in our hearts, and every kidnapped person is foremost in our minds. Yet, there is no comparison between the terrible massacre and the Holocaust. For this reason, and with great pain, I requested that yellow badges not be used. It's a red line that will not be crossed in my committee."