Smotrich walks out of Knesset committee after confrontation with hostage families

Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Relatives of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip react to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during a Finance Committee meeting at the Knesset on June 10, 2024 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Relatives of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip react to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during a Finance Committee meeting at the Knesset on June 10, 2024 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich walks out of a meeting of the Knesset Finance Committee after being confronted by relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Some of the families tell Smotrich that they have waited eight months to meet with him and say their relatives have been abandoned. For his part, Smotrich says that they are engaged in “cynicism and demagoguery.”

Asked what price a hostage’s life is worth, Smotrich accuses the hostages’ families of yelling, prompting loud arguments.

“Let’s say that Sinwar will ask for 20 of the inhabitants of the Gaza border area to be killed. Is that what Sinwar demands now? Releasing hundreds of murderers with blood on their hands, God forbid, could lead to the murder of many Jews,” Smotrich says.

“When Hamas demands an end to the war while it survives in Gaza, that means it will go back to arming itself, digging tunnels, purchasing missiles, and many Jews can be murdered and kidnapped in another October 7,” he adds. “This is the dilemma, and it is painful, and our responsibility as leadership is to think about things not only here and now, but also what the long-term consequences are.”

In response, the families chant a Talmudic saying: “Whoever saves one soul, it is as if he saved the whole world.”

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