Netanyahu speaks with Liri Albag after PM’s backers attacked freed hostage online

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with former hostage Liri Albag and her parents, Shira and Eli, after the freed captive was attacked online by many pro-Netanyahu accounts for blaming the premier for her abduction.

The Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement that during the call, the prime minister said he “expresses solidarity with Liri in light of the attacks she has faced on social media in recent days.”

In a since-removed promotional clip of an upcoming interview with Albag on the Kan public broadcaster, Albag sharply criticized Netanyahu, telling the interviewer that if she were to meet the premier, she would tell him that she blames him for the failures surrounding the October, 7, 2023, Hamas assault, during which she was taken captive.

Albag, who was released from captivity during the recent ceasefire, requested the video’s removal from the air due to a wave of hate she received from Netanyahu supporters on social media, with some accounts calling her “a trash girl” and suggesting sending her “back to Gaza.” According to Channel 12, a large number of the hateful messages came from pro-Netanyahu Facebook groups, with up to 90,000 members.

Netanyahu offers Albag words of support over the phone, and “expresses admiration for her resilience and bravery while in Hamas captivity,” says the PMO.

The premier tells Albag that he and his wife Sara Netanyahu had maintained regular contact with the Albag family, that he is committed to securing the return of all hostages, and “that he would like to meet soon” with Albag and “the fellow [IDF] observer soldiers that returned with her,” referring to released hostages Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Karina Ariev.

Liri thanked the prime minister for “the emotional conversation, for his courageous decision to secure her release and that of other hostages, and urged him to continue efforts to bring everyone home,” the PMO adds in its readout of the conversation.