Hostage families barred from showing videos of loved ones in Knesset committee meeting
Committee chair Rothman tells relatives of Matan Angrest and Sasha Trufanov that clips must be approved ahead of time; Arbel Yehud’s father shares letter to captive daughter
MK Simcha Rothman, the chair of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, refused to allow two relatives of Gaza hostages to play recordings of their loved ones in captivity during a meeting of the committee on Monday.
Relatives of hostages Sasha Trufanov and Matan Angrest asked to play videos of their loved ones to the committee to highlight their plight but were refused, as Rothman claimed that the playing of any recordings had to be coordinated ahead of time.
“How can I coordinate? This is the only way I have seen my brother,” Ofir Angrest, Matan’s brother, retorted, accusing the government of abandoning the hostages.
As members of the committee began to argue among themselves over the matter, Angrest took the opportunity to press play and hold his phone up to the microphone, momentarily amplifying his brother’s voice across the room.
Knesset stewards quickly approached him to turn it off, though they were briefly deterred by Labor MK Naama Lazimi who tried to block their path.
“I want you to hear my brother’s voice,” Angrest said.
“Why aren’t you fighting for him?” he asked the committee. “He went to battle knowing he might die. Hamas kidnapped my brother from a tank. Where is the IDF? You have abandoned my brother.”
As committee members continued to bicker over Angrest, Rothman warned an opposition lawmaker, “I will not allow you to turn the hostages into a political event.”
Matan Angrest was on duty at the Nahal Oz base on the morning of October 7, 2023, when some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
His mother revealed in September that he was seen, alive but bruised, in a video found inside Gaza by IDF soldiers.
Earlier in the committee meeting, Rothman, a member of the far-right Religious Zionism party, had also refused to allow a video of Trufanov, who is being held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, to be played. The terror group has released several propaganda videos of him in recent weeks.
אח החייל החטוף ניסה להשמיע הקלטה של אחיו מהשבי – יו"ר הוועדה שמחה רוטמן סירב כי לא פעל על פי הנהלים: "יואב, לא אתן להפוך משפחות חטופים לאירוע פוליטי. אחיו של מתן אנגרסט השיב: "חייל צה"ל…פוליטי. אני רק מזכיר"@idfonline@bringhomenow@BringThemHome23@rothmar pic.twitter.com/MCySCahB9f
— ערוץ כנסת (@KnessetT) November 18, 2024
Also in attendance at the committee meeting was Yehiel Yehud, whose son Dolev was murdered by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, and whose daughter Arbel is believed to still be captive in Gaza, along with her partner Ariel Cunio.
During his address to the committee, Yehud read aloud a letter he had written to his daughter, who has been in captivity for over 400 days.
“My Arbeli, you are now in the second year of your captivity since the terrorists kidnapped you, and they are holding you in difficult conditions,” he began. “The worry about your health is driving us crazy. It’s been 409 days, my child, since I heard your voice and hugged you close to me with limitless love.
“My girl, did you sleep last night? Do your captors beat you? What do they make you to do with them in exchange for pita and a glass of water? Are you terrified of the noises around you?” Yehud continued. “I’m asking you to stay strong and optimistic, don’t let them break your spirit.
“Don’t give up, because as long as we know that you have hope, it gives us strength for the fight, which is focused on Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, who refuses to see you as his child, because he is afraid that his government will fall due to ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich,” Yehud said.
“They make threats in public all the time, while in meetings with me, they commit to working for your release,” he said.
מכתב שהקריא היום בכנסת יחיאל יהוד לבתו ארבל יהוד, שמופקרת כבר 409 ימים אצל חמאס.
אין מחילה לקואליציה שמביאה את אזרחיה למצבים כאלו. pic.twitter.com/P7W640cLGG— Gil Feldman (@feldman_gil) November 18, 2024
“Arbeli, know that the majority of the country’s citizens want your release,” Yehud said, turning his attention away from those he holds responsible for his daughter’s prolonged absence. “Please know that people are working around the world and in Israel for this. Don’t break, my love. We love you and are waiting for you.”
It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
