Brother of hostage Carmel Gat turns down offer to fly to Washington with PM, accuses him of intentionally delaying deal

Alon Gat, whose sister Carmel Gat is in Hamas captivity, tells Ynet that he turned down an invitation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fly with him to Washington next week, as he fears the prime minister is endangering his sister’s life by intentionally delaying a hostage deal.

“Netanyahu invited me on the flight and at first I thought it could help, that we would be able to impact things,” he says. “I believed that on the flight, he would announce that he was signing the deal. But as the deadline approached, we realized that this wasn’t going to happen, and instead the opposite is true — he is hindering progress and isn’t making any decisions.”

He says that he believes other families currently expected to fly with Netanyahu’s delegation will join him in his decision.

“I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I was traveling with him and that at that time, god forbid, something had happened to Carmel. I know that Netanyahu is taking his time. I don’t know how he lives with it,” he adds.