Brother of hostage soldier slams PM for failing to free male troops without foreign citizenship

Addressing some 1,500 people at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Ofir Angrest, brother of captive soldier Matan Angrest, slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the fact that no male hostage soldiers have been returned to Israel except for Edan Alexander, a dual US-Israeli citizen, freed by Hamas as a gesture to the Trump administration.

“The only victory image will be when you bring back a Zionist Israeli soldier, wrapped in a blue-and-white flag, with no foreign citizenship,” he says. “Because until now, you’ve brought back zero.”

Angrest says Netanyahu told him in a meeting that he was unaware of the severe conditions in which Matan is held. “Asthma attacks after being interrogated and severely tortured, black eyes and facial fractures, and loss of consciousness a number of times when he was taken above ground moments before he choked to death.”

Bar Godard, daughter of slain captive Manny Godard, says, “Our country has decided not to bring the hostages home.”

She calls on the government to make a “brave, moral and human decision to end the war and bring everyone home.”

“Instead of that, we’re dragging ourselves into a never-ending war,” she says. “Prioritizing revenge over saving lives.”