Israelis exchanged accusations on their media channels during discussions regarding the statements of the head of the Israeli National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, who said that the demonstrations do not change anything and the return of prisoners depends on how useful they are to the government.
Channel 12 reported that the head of the Israeli National Security Council shouted and insulted the families of the prisoners during his meeting with them, and admitted to them that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government would not be able to complete the return of the prisoners.
Yaron Abraham, political affairs correspondent for Channel 12, quoted Hanegbi as saying, “If the kidnapped people do not return within weeks or a few months, we have no alternative plan. We will continue fighting in Gaza and in the north.”
A heated discussion broke out between Khanoch Malevitsky, a member of the Knesset from the Likud Party, and Danny Elgrat, the brother of an Israeli prisoner in Gaza. The former accused the latter of exploiting what he described as the difficult human tragedy of the prisoners for political gain, to which the latter responded by saying, “If you had any respect… “For yourself, you would have gone home already.”
Meanwhile, Meir Cohen, a Knesset member and former minister from the Yesh Atid party, criticized the way the war on the Gaza Strip was being conducted.
On the other hand, Yair Attinger, analyst for religion and state affairs at Kan 11, described the young generation in the Reform Jewish movement in the United States as highly critical of Israel, and that its opposition amounts to rejecting the existence of the State of Israel, and said that the Jewish community there is threatened by fragmentation.
Kan 11 quoted a statement by Amiel Hirsch, a Reform rabbi in the United States, saying, “We are in the midst of a massive ideological struggle, and its results will determine whether liberal Judaism will flourish in the diaspora or whether it will split and crumble into a thousand fragments.”
