After eye surgery, Likud MK tells hostage families she understands their pain
At Knesset committee meeting, Keti Shitrit describes recent medical procedure to illustrate empathy with families of October 7; later apologizes for clumsy comparison
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A Likud Knesset member drew outrage Monday when she told families of hostages held in Gaza that she understood their pain, having just undergone eye surgery herself.
The tone-deaf comparison by MK Keti Shitrit came during a meeting of the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality held to discuss help for victims of sexual violence perpetrated during the October 7 Hamas onslaught in southern Israel.
MK Keti Shitrit said Monday in the Knesset that she understands the pain of hostages’ families after her own life was upended following eye surgery.
“One morning I woke up and could not see out of my one eye and I was taken for surgery,” said Shitrit, a member of the committee. “Recovery was long. I can’t get dressed or shower or do other things I did before.”
“Why am I telling you this?” she added, turning to relatives of hostages held in Gaza. “Because I can so clearly understand how your lives were so suddenly turned upside down.”
Shitrit’s attempt at empathy was widely derided on social media, with some users sarcastically suggesting that vigils be held for her suffering.
Shortly after the Knesset session, the lawmaker apologized for her comment on X.
“It is clear to me how inopportune the wording was. No medical procedure is comparable to the suffering, the helplessness, and struggle of the hostages’ families themselves,” wrote Shitrit. “I embrace the families and will continue to do all I can for the speedy return of their loved ones,” she wrote.
In a Facebook post from December 25, Shitrit announced that she had to undergo emergency surgery and would be unable to deliver a scheduled speech on behalf of Likud in a special Knesset session about the hostages. She said she was instead publishing her speech on social media “because the hostage situation is first and foremost.”
ח"כ קטי שטרית למשפחות החטופים: "הובלתי לניתוח, ההחלמה היא מאוד ארוכה. אני לא מסוגלת להתלבש אני לא מסוגלת להתקלח, אני לא מסוגלת לעשות דברים שעשיתי אותם לפני כן. למה אני מספרת לכם את זה? כי אני כ"כ מבינה איך עולמכם פתאום התהפך"@BringThemHome23 @shitrit_keti @Likud_Party pic.twitter.com/BQ5F3WkN7v
— ערוץ כנסת (@KnessetT) January 8, 2024
The Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality met Monday to discuss aid for victims of sexual violence during Hamas’s brutal October 7 onslaught.
On October 7, some 3,000 terrorists crossed the border into Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking over 240 hostages of all ages, while weaponizing sexual violence on a mass scale.
The Times of Israel Community.