Hostage’s father at rally: ‘I don’t want to receive my boy in a bag’

Ofir Braslavski, the father of hostage Rom Braslavski, says in a speech at a mass rally in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square that he “no longer trusts the prime minister” after nearly two years have passed without the return of his son.

“I don’t want to receive my boy in a bag,” adds Braslavski.

Last month, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group released footage of Braslavski, appearing emaciated and in dire medical condition.

His father calls the video reminiscent of “the horrors of the Holocaust, seeing him tortured, suffering.”

But despite the footage, the government “isn’t doing anything,” Braslavski says from the stage. “Two years we are waiting… as if it’s something he [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] is doing intentionally.”

“I no longer trust anyone — I don’t trust the prime minister. I don’t trust the government… the only person I trust is the IDF chief of staff,” he says.

Braslavski refers to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, who yesterday reportedly urged the government to take the hostage deal currently on the table, saying the choice is “in Netanyahu’s hands.”

The rally in Hostages Square caps a day of nationwide protests for a deal to free the captives and against the government’s planned military offensive in Gaza City.