Former Israeli hostages, families push back on gov't coordinator's claims that protests ‘helped Hamas’

Several former hostages and hostage family members reacted sharply to comments made over the weekend by the government’s coordinator of the hostages and missing persons, Gal Hirsch, during a series of interviews to media outlets. 

During the interviews, Hirsch criticized hostage family members, such as Einav Zangauker, and sharply denounced the hostage protests as serving the interests of Hamas. 

Among his statements, Hirsch said that Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan, had threatened to kill him, and claimed the demonstrations ultimately helped Hamas. 

In an interview with Haaretz, Hirsch claimed, “the demonstrations for the hostages helped Hamas, there was no need to create a sense of urgency among us.”  

This statement, among others, drew harsh reactions from hostages and their families. 

Survivor Or Levy wrote a response on Facebook, saying, “Gal Hirsch, shame on you! Who are you to speak about us or our families? Who are you to say anything to my 70-year-old parents, who had to tell a two-year-old baby that his mother was murdered and his father ‘was lost’?” Levy wrote in a post to Facebook. “Who are you to tell grieving parents that they could have gotten their children back alive but because of the negotiations, they lost their lives?” 

Levy also accused Hirsch of conducting the interviews because of the upcoming election season in Israel. 

“I see how the election campaign is the only thing that matters. Changing the narrative of what’s been going on here for more than two years,” he wrote. 

Yonatan Shimriz, brother of the late Alon Shimriz who died in captivity, wrote on 𝕏, “When your brother is kidnapped, and then you hear from a hostage who returned and was with him what they are doing to him there, and you stop sleeping, and food has no taste anymore, and you are ashamed to cover yourself at night, and you are ashamed to be alive, then – this sense of urgency, you will feel it alone.” 

Carmit Palty Katzir, daughter of former hostage Hannah Katzir, 78, who died shortly after her release, and the sister of the late hostage Elad Katzir, also wrote a stinging critique on Facebook. 

“How are you not ashamed to talk about urgency, about the protests that put pressure on the American government that saved us from you?” she wrote. 

“You saw my mother in the video from her captivity on 9.11.23, you saw what a terrible state she was in, and even then you didn't feel any urgency,” Katzir continued. “She was returned after 49 days in captivity and within 10 days she was already sedated and on a ventilator. You had 99 days to get Eldad back alive, but urgency is for those who are hysterical. You brought him back, no hurry, in a [body] bag.” 

“Did the demonstrations strengthen Hamas? But not a government that transferred money to Hamas, and whose Prime Minister's Office works for Qatar? And when you say there was no need to create a sense of urgency among us, who is ‘among us’? Are you from Israel?” She concluded. 

During the war, many of the hostages who returned told how they were exposed to pictures and videos of the protests during captivity, saying that it strengthened them. In an interview with Channel 12 News, Eitan Horn said that "thanks to the protest, the hostages are alive.” He claimed that the media focus on the hostages prevented their execution. 

In his interview with Haaretz, Hirsch tried to soften his statement about the protests, saying, “I can’t say that I am against solidarity events in Israel on the matter of the hostages. I am in favor. It shows the power of the Israeli people.” 

He said he was against the claims often made at such events, explaining that “all kinds of fabrications about [Netanyahu] torpedoing deals and Israel being the obstinate party, gave Hamas a position of power in the international arena, in the negotiation rooms.” 

In other media outlets, Hirsch said that he had received threats from hostage families. In an interview with Channel 14, Hirsch claimed that Einav Zangauker threatened to kill him. 

Speaking with Channel 14’s "Patriots", Hirsch claimed that protest activist Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker threatened him. 

“I say this responsibly,” Hirsch stated. “I received death threats from Einav Zangaoker.” 

He also accused Zangauker of leaking materials and even recordings from a confidential meeting which involved sensitive information about the hostages. 

“She asked that it not be published, and then she was the one who leaked things - including recordings,” Hirssch told Channel 14. “It shocks me.” 

Zangauker responded to Hirsch’s statement in a post on 𝕏. 

“Luckily, President Trump thought differently, and to his credit and to the credit of our wonderful people who went out to fight for values ​​and didn't give up, Matan is here at home,” she wrote in a post in Hebrew. “Netanyahu's floor rag [Hirsch] continues the campaign of lies and rewriting history. It won't work for you.” 

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Hirsch rejected the argument that Israel could have secured a larger hostage release deal earlier by offering additional concessions. Hirsch told the Post that the main barrier was Hamas’ negotiating strategy, aimed at keeping the hostages as long as possible in order to achieve its objectives. 

He claimed that Hamas often used the negotiations to buy time, often changing demands in the middle of negotiating, while publicly blaming Israel for refusing to compromise. 

He also said that Hamas understood it could use such tactics to divide Israeli society through the propaganda surrounding the hostages. 

“One of the hardest parts,” Hirsch told the Post, “was very effective propaganda, to tear us from within.”  

Hirsch did not dispute the large role played by the United States, including President Donald Trump, in freeing the last of the hostages. 

“America has a decisive role,” he agreed.