Ex-hostages demand Gal Hirsch quit after ‘despicable comments’ that protests helped Hamas

A group of former hostages and their relatives on Sunday demanded the resignation of Gal Hirsch, the government’s hostage point man, after he said in a series of interviews published over the weekend that mass demonstrations on behalf of the hostages had aided Hamas.

“For two years, Hirsch presented the families with a collection of lies and eye-rolling, threatening, and blackmailing us not to speak out against the prime minister, while holding an official position and a position of power over us and our loved ones who were held captive by Hamas,” the letter read.

The letter, which was sent to Hirsch on Sunday evening, is signed by former hostages Shani Goren, Arbel Yehoud, Ada Sagi, Nili Margalit, and Karina Engelbert, as well as more than 70 relatives of former captives, including from the Bibas, Calderon, Avigdori, and Or families.

In an interview with The Times of Israel that was published on Sunday, Hirsch said that the weekly hostage protests “amplified” Hamas propaganda in a way that “shocked” him. He made similar contents in several other Hebrew media interviews.

The letter said that Hirsch’s “despicable comments against the struggle of families and against specific families are the continuation of the abuse.”

The letter demanded that Hirsch resign “immediately” as head of the government’s hostages directorate, which he announced on Thursday is now pivoting to focus on rehabilitation for former hostages and their families.

Hirsch is “now clearly nothing more than a political appendage seeking a reserved spot on a party list ahead of the election,” the family members alleged in the letter.

They demanded that he leave public office “so that no family will continue to be subjected to psychological abuse and threats by someone who was supposed to protect their loved ones and who is unquestionably tainted by a conflict of interest.”

In an interview with Haaretz published Friday, Hirsch also said that “there was no need to create a feeling of urgency for us [to return them].”

The signatories to the letter slammed Hirsch, claiming that “at no stage did he demand [the hostages’] return as the highest priority.

“Because human life was not urgent enough for him, the hostages who survived endured prolonged torture; the hostages who were murdered were consigned to unmarked graves; and 46 who could have returned alive were killed or murdered in captivity or died due to lack of medical care,” the letter added.

In the wake of Hirsch’s comments, a number of former hostages and family members spoke out publicly over the weekend against him.

Or Levy, who was held captive in Gaza for 491 days after his wife, Eynav, was murdered at the Supernova music festival, wrote to Hirsch on social media that he wasn’t “sure if you really know who I am,” since they had never interacted.

“Gal Hirsch, shame on you! Who are you to speak about us or our families?” Levy wrote. “Who are you to say anything to my 70-year-old parents, who had to tell a 2-year-old baby that his mother was murdered and his father ‘was lost’?”

Levy said that Hirsch once called his mother after his return, and asked if he wanted to speak to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I said no. Because I don’t need favors from anyone. And now I see how the election campaign is the only thing that matters,” Levy wrote.