Rothman refuses to allow relatives to play videos of hostages in captivity in Knesset committee meeting

MK Simcha Rothman refuses to allow two relatives of captured hostages to play videos of the hostages in captivity during a meeting of the Knesset Law, Justice and Constitution Committee.

Relatives of Hostages Sasha Trufanov and Matan Angrest asked to play videos of their loved ones to the committee, but were refused with Rothman saying that playing any recordings had to be coordinated ahead of time.

“How can I coordinate, this is the only way I have seen my brother,” Ofir Angrest, Matan’s brother, retorts, accusing the government of abandoning the hostages.

“He doesn’t have time, he needs you, why aren’t you fighting for him?” he asks.

“He went to battle knowing he might die. Hamas kidnapped my brother from a tank. Where is the IDF? You have abandoned my brother,” he says.

Matan Angrest was on duty at the Nahal Oz base on the morning of October 7, when some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.

His mother revealed that he was seen bruised in a video found inside Gaza by IDF soldiers.

Rothman also refused to allow a video of Trufanov, who is being held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, to be played. The terror group has released several propaganda videos of him in recent weeks.