Ex-captives criticize Independence Day torch honor for government hostage czar Hirsch

Former hostages and their family members are slamming the selection of Gal Hirsch, the government’s hostage point man, to light a torch at the Independence Day Ceremony on April 21, saying he represents a government that did too little to save those taken captive by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023.

Yonatan Shamriz, the brother of hostage Alon Shamriz, who was mistakenly killed by IDF troops after managing to escape captivity in Gaza, calls the choice “simply absurd.”

“Instead of being held accountable, instead of facing a state commission of inquiry, he is being given a national stage,” says Shamriz, noting that Hirsch was accused by hostage families of pressuring them not to criticize the government that he says abandoned them.

Lishay Lavi-Miran, whose husband Omri Miran was released from captivity in October 2025, writes on X, “No rearguard battle over the narrative will change the truth about what happened there — something so many people already know. No torch-lighting ceremony will erase the abandonment.”

In February, a group of former hostages and their relatives demanded Hirsch’s resignation after he said in a series of interviews that mass demonstrations on behalf of the hostages had aided Hamas.

Ex-captive Rom Breslavski, one of the final 20 living hostages released in October 2025, calls the choice of Hirsch “a slap in the face to me, my father, my mother, and all the families of the hostages.”

“The same person who emphasizes how important the hostages are to him, and how much he worked for us, publicly spoke out against hostage families and threatened to sue them several times,” says Breslavski, accusing Hirsch of “just playing politics.”