From the Liveblog of
Monday, March 3, 2025
Brother at funeral of slain hostage: ‘The state abandoned you to your death’
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Thousands attend the Kibbutz Nir Oz funeral of slain hostage Itzik Elgarat, whose siblings issue emotional tirades against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government they accuse of abandoning their brother to his death in Gaza.
“Itzik, unfortunately, you were right. Your last words before you were abducted were ‘Dani, this is the end, this is the end.’ You already knew, and we didn’t want to believe it,” says Dani Elgarat.
“We fought with all our might to prove you wrong. We failed. We didn’t do enough,” says Elgarat, a prominent figure in the fight to secure the release of the hostages.
“Netanyahu defeated us and you didn’t return from captivity. The enemy who caused your death was not the one who abducted you, but the one who abandoned you,” he says.
“You managed to survive the kidnapping, the kidnappers, and the injury for many months,” he says.
“Finally Netanyahu subdued you through the torpedoing [of the hostage deal] and abandonment. This is the end of the Jewish state that did not fulfill its duty and stood by while your blood was spilled. It abandoned you to Hamas to die for the sake of ‘power, honor, and money.'” he charges.
“You were correct that it was the end. But not only of your life. This is also the end of the democratic state that deprived you of your freedom, your dignity, and your human and civil rights. This is the end of the value of mutual responsibility and the value of life in Israeli society. Values that distinguished us from our enemy, and now we have become like them,” he says.
Rachel Danzig, Elgarat’s sister, praises her brother for his bravery on October 7, 2023, as terrorists swarmed Kibbutz Nir Oz.
“You, Itzik, fought them with a fierce heart. They took you alive. I believed so much that you would return alive. You left too soon. They tortured you, they starved you, you left in great agony that only bloodthirsty murderers can inflict,” she says.
“We were unable to save you and our friends. We were unable to save you from an evil government,” she says.
The Times of Israel Community.