Likud minister reportedly conditioned funds for hostage families on firing of PR man

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli in November told the Hostages and Missing Families Forum to fire director Ronen Tzur, a prominent critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in return for funding from his ministry, Israeli television reported Wednesday.

According to Channel 12 news, the families lobbied several ministries to support the then-month-old group’s international activities. Chikli reportedly told a forum official that “as long as you work with Tzur, there will be no cooperation with my ministry.”

The report came a day after political strategist Ofer Rosenbaum said a “senior government official” called him just two weeks after October 7 to enlist Rosenbaum’s help “to dismantle and neutralize” the families forum. The television network said the official was a government minister, without identifying this individual.

Responding to the report, Chikli said: “It’s no secret that I — like other government ministers, and many [on the right] — was uneasy with the appointment of someone with a clear political agenda who is so controversial.” He did cite any specific objection to Tzur.

In his statement, Chikli said his ministry helped the forum create digital content and send public diplomacy delegations around the world, but did not deny conditioning assistance on Tzur’s termination.

Tzur, a political strategist who served briefly as a Labor lawmaker, helped establish the forum soon after the war in Gaza was sparked on October 7, when 251 people were kidnapped during the thousands-strong Hamas onslaught through southern Israel that left some 1,200 people dead. Before that, Tzur was active in the opposition to the government’s planned judicial overhaul. He served as a prominent campaign adviser to National Unity party leader Benny Gantz when the latter entered politics in 2019.

Tzur volunteered as the forum’s director until February, stepping down after some 50 families signed a petition that accused him of politicizing their cause. His departure coincided with some hostage families’ decision to explicitly accuse Netanyahu of preventing a hostages-for-ceasefire deal.

In his remarks Tuesday, Rosenbaum said that a “very well-connected and well-known” government official called him two weeks after October 7, and, with “not-nice words,” asked to retain Rosenbaum’s services “to take apart the Families Forum.”

Rosenbaum — who runs a subsidiary of Tzur’s public relations firm — made the allegation in testimony to a civilian commission of inquiry into the events of October 7, of which Rosenbaum is chief of staff.

Survivors of the October 7 attacks established the civilian commission in July amid Netanyahu’s repeated refusal to establish or commit to establishing a state commission of inquiry into the events surrounding the October 7 Hamas invasion and massacre.