Yesh Atid MK urges criminal probe of Ben Gvir, saying his comments endangered hostages

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir leads an Otzma Yehudit faction meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on June 30, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir leads an Otzma Yehudit faction meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on June 30, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Yesh Atid lawmaker Adi Ezuz writes to the attorney general urging her to open a criminal probe into National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir over potential breach of trust, accusing him of endangering hostages while they were held captive by Hamas.

The letter, addressed to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, references testimony from a recently released hostage who said his captors starved and beat him relentlessly in response to Ben Gvir’s bragging about worsening conditions for Palestinian security prisoners.

Ezuz writes that the testimony “creates a direct causal link between the minister’s wanton remarks and the torture of the hostages by the Hamas murderers.”

In the Channel 12 report aired Friday, the unnamed former hostage said Hamas locked him and others up in a cage and allowed them to eat only one date and drink salt water, after Ben Gvir boasted about limiting Palestinian prisoners’ food intake.

“Once after he spoke on television, some terrorists came in with horse whips and beat us until some of us lost consciousness,” the former hostage recalled.

Ezuz insists that the far-right leader was fully aware there was a link between his public statements and the hostages’ wellbeing. The anonymous hostage’s family reportedly warned Ben Gvir against provoking Hamas, and hostages freed in past deals also testified publicly to similar abuse spurred on by the minister’s statements.

“If it is indeed proven that the minister acted knowingly and with the awareness that his actions and remarks would bring harm to the hostages, we are talking about abuse of authority and severe breach of public trust which could constitute aggravated breach of trust,” Ezuz writes.

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