"If you go on like this, you will ensure your son remains in Hamas dungeons for years," A father of one of the hostages held in Gaza was told on Monday, by a member of the ruling coalition.
Eliyahu Revivo, a lawmaker from Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party and a member of the Knesset Constitution, Law, Justice Committee shouted at Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod was abducted to Gaza during the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7, after he said Netanyahu should be arrested by the International Criminal Court (ICC) not only for crimes against Gazans but for his crimes against IDF soldiers. Cohen said that if the threat of arrest would push the prime minister toward accepting a hostage release deal, he would recommend it.
Revivo then turned his ire at a relative of slain hostage Carmel Gat who told him to stop yelling at a father of a hostage. "Who do you think you are?" Revivo asked.
Cohen warned of the government once again foiling the chance for a hostage release deal and opting for a "murderous ideology, such as settlements and the killing of soldiers" over saving lives. "Rather than sanctifying life, they are sanctifying death," he said. "We heard what [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich said.
Likud lawmaker shouts at the father of a hostage during a Knesset committee session
(Knesset channel)
Smotrich said in a post on X that the deal that is reportedly nearing agreement in the negotiations in Doha, was catastrophic for Israel's security and a capitulation. He said Israel should not conquer and control all of the Gaza Strip and eliminate Hamas.
Committee chair Simcha Rothman ordered the committee meeting closed and ordered cameras to be shut off.
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After a break, the session resumed. Rothman told Cohen that he could not judge him in his anguish after he accused the prime minister of treason.
"The fact that I am the father of a hostage does not make me stupid," Cohen said in response. "I am a very logical person working in algorithm engineering. Can you tell me one thing this government has done for the benefit of Israel? Over 2,000 civilians and soldiers have been murdered in the past year."