MK Edelstein to uncle of terror victim: 'Get out of my sight'

Likud lawmaker screams at relative of October 7 victims during Knesset hearing

‘You don’t talk like that’ about Netanyahu, Tally Gotliv yells at man who lost four family members at Kibbutz Be’eri; Labor MK Kariv calls her behavior ‘unthinkable’

Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

MK Tally Gotliv during a debate and a vote in Knesset on the proposed impeachment of MK Ofer Cassif, February 19, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
MK Tally Gotliv during a debate and a vote in Knesset on the proposed impeachment of MK Ofer Cassif, February 19, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud lawmaker Tally Gotliv berated a representative of a bereaved family for criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset on Wednesday, sparking a heated argument with opposition lawmakers.

“You don’t talk like that about the prime minister,” Gotliv screamed at Amit Segev, after he described Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his associates as a “group of corrupt people and criminals” who had damaged the State of Israel while testifying before the State Control Committee regarding the need to enlist Haredim.

Segev lost his sister, brother-in-law and their two children when Hamas attacked their home in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7.

Responding to Gotliv, MK Gilad Kariv shouted back that she was being “insolent” and should “bow your head in front of the families.”

Hitting back, the firebrand Likud MK accused the Labor lawmaker of political posturing ahead of his party’s upcoming primary, despite the fact that he is not running, and insisted that she is “not impressed by your screaming.”

“The idea of an MK cutting off the statement of a grieving brother and uncle is unthinkable, especially when she demanded that he not speak against the prime minister,” Kariv told The Times of Israel following the altercation.

“If the members of the coalition think they can silence the grieving families and the families of the hostages, they don’t understand the level of public rage against them,” he said.

Asked about Gotliv’s outburst, Segev responded that her behavior was “not the issue.”

“The issue is that the government needs to take responsibility for [October 7] and needs to quit,” he told The Times of Israel, adding that he believed the Haredim “need to go to the army like my son and myself and my father. It’s supposed to be for everybody.”

Since entering the Knesset after elections in November 2022, Gotliv has established a reputation for outbursts and incendiary claims. During a recent Likud faction meeting, she accused Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem of drinking on the job after he told her to “stop disturbing people. You aren’t letting anyone speak.”

“Don’t talk to me. We can smell the vodka you’ve been drinking from here,” Gotliv yelled — after which Amsalem declared that her behavior had caused their party “a lot of damage.”

In February, anti-Netanyahu protest leader Shikma Bressler filed a NIS 2.6 million ($715,000) defamation suit against Gotliv after she repeatedly circulated unfounded claims that linked the activist to the Hamas terror group’s attack.

Left: MK Tali Gottlieb at the Knesset, January 29, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90); Right: Shikma Bressler meets social activists at Dizengoff Square, Tel Aviv, October 3, 2023. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Both Netanyahu, who head’s the Likud party, and the Mossad spy agency have repeatedly and forcibly denied the claims, while Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar accused Gotliv of endangering national security.

She has also accused the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet of “working for terrorists” and claimed that the IDF spokesman was “serving narratives that aren’t right-wing.”

Gotliv repeated that assertion during Wednesday’s hearing, yelling that the IDF spokesman was “lying to advance the narrative of the radical left.”

Shortly after Gotliv and Segev’s clash, senior Likud MK Yuli Edelstein told the uncle of another terror victim to “get out of my sight” after being confronted with a “dismissal letter” while walking down a Knesset hallway.

“Today is the day of dismissals. This entire coalition is dismissed,” Roni Neumann, whose niece Rotem Neumann was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival on October 7, told Edelstein at the entrance to the parliament’s committee wing.

“This is the October 7 government,” he continued after being brushed aside by Edelstein. “The chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee failed on security and he says get out of my sight.”

Edelstein is the chairman of the Knesset panel exercising oversight on security and diplomatic affairs.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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