Breaking silence, PM says Likud MKs were wrong to yell at bereaved families

In his first public statements on an incident that has drawn a chorus of condemnation from across the political spectrum, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed “regret” Sunday over Likud Knesset members who yelled at the bereaved parents of fallen IDF soldiers during a heated Knesset committee meeting last week.

“I would like to say a few words to the bereaved families,” Netanyahu said at the opening of his weekly cabinet meeting. “The entire people of Israel is united around you, who have lost what is dearer than anything on behalf of the security of Israel.”‘

Referring to the death of his brother Yoni Netanyahu, the sole Israeli soldier killed during the 1976 Entebbe raid, the prime minister said that he understood the “deep pain” that the families feel for their loved ones.

“As prime minister and the son of a bereaved family, I heard what was said last week in the Knesset in the heat of debate,” he said. “I regret that these remarks were made; an immediate apology was necessary and it is good that this was done.”

One of the bereaved pants involved in the incident, Ilan Sagi, criticized Netanyahu, saying his apology had come far too late.

Speaking to Channel 2, Sagi said Netanyahu should have spoken up during the debate, instead of just allowing it to happen.

In unprecedented scenes at a Knesset hearing on Wednesday attended by Netanyahu, Likud MKs Miki Zohar and David Bitan shouted at bereaved parents for criticizing the government and its leader over their conduct during the 2014 Gaza war.

Netanyahu was invited to the Knesset State Control Committee hearing to answer questions on a critical state comptroller report, published in February, that found serious failures by the military and government ahead of and during the 50-day conflict known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge.

Referring to Bitan, Sagi — whose son Erez was killed when terrorists emerged from a tunnel and attacked his pillbox near Nahal Oz — said he had stood outside the Prime Minister’s Office holding a sign asking for an inquiry into the failures of the Gaza war.

“This big wise guy comes along, the one who talks the most [Bitan], and he tells me, ‘Go, this won’t help. You said that!’” Sagi claimed, looking at Bitan.

“You are a liar! I have never spoken with you!” Bitan, who serves as coalition chairman, shouted back at him in the middle of the meeting. “Stop exploiting this to lie here!”

In another tense moment, Leah Goldin, whose son Hadar’s remains are being held by Hamas along with those of fellow soldier Oron Shaul, charged that Netanyahu had turned the bereaved families into “enemies of the people… You have turned the problem of returning the boys into a problem of the families,” she said.

Zohar retorted that her claims were exaggerated.

“Don’t answer me. Such insolence!” cried Goldin, throwing a plastic cup in his direction. “I don’t even know your name,” she added.

The two offered apologies to the families following the incident.

While several Likud MKs slammed their colleagues for the outbursts, Netanyahu had thus far refrained from commenting publicly. He did, however, personally rebuke Zohar and Bitan, telling them that they had behaved in a “disgraceful” manner, Channel 2 news reported Thursday.

While not directly referring to the criticism leveled against him or the government during the hearing, Netanyahu told his ministers that “national unity” was more important that political point-scoring.

“This is the source of our strength and also the foundation of our future,” he said.