Ichilov Medical Center spokesman Avi Shushan responded to the controversy surrounding the statements to the media by Yocheved Lifshitz, one of the women freed from Hamas captivity on Monday night, including statements in which she praised the Hamas terrorist organization for the treatment she received during her 17 days in captivity.
"When we arrived there, they first of all told us that they believe in the Quran and they will do us no harm, and we will receive the same conditions as they have," Lifshitz said. "We started walking in the tunnels, many kilometers, for a long time, and after two or three hours they separated five from Kibbutz Nir Oz and took them separately. They were next to us, watching us, a paramedic and a doctor of theirs also came."
Shushan clarified that "no government or security agency briefed me or gave me procedures regarding media conduct vis a vis the abductees who were returned from captivity."
The spokesman said that the hospital was under intense pressure from the international media to allow journalists to speak to the released captives. "All the media were at the hospital from five o'clock in the morning and asked to interview the abductees and their families. We had to forcibly remove photographers and reporters from the ward where they were hospitalized. At the same time, the family has already started giving interviews in Ichilov to channels like CNN, for example, without coordinating with us."
He noted that "one family refused to be interviewed and their privacy as stated is being preserved at their request as is customary."
He later added: "A spokesman for a senior personality contacted me this morning and gave a comment about an interview given by a staff member (not about the family or the abductee). I approached the family as soon as they announced that they were going to the media and emphasized to them that they should remember that there is a battle over narratives here."
Shushan commented on the criticism of the interview after the part in which Lifshitz praised the treatment she received from Hamas was spread on Arabic-language media: "To be clear, I cannot and must not dictate to a person who returns from captivity what to say, I am not a censor and it is not within my authority. The question is who does have this authority, if anyone does. This issue is now under legal review. As soon as I understood what the mood was, and as a result of the conduct on the ground, I stopped the press conference."
He clarified, "As a spokesperson, I try and work to provide the best and most professional media service. This is how I tried to act this time as well. Within an hour, hundreds of reporters from Israel and the world came to me without sufficient preparation."
"I hope that Ichilov will receive many abductees for treatment. At the same time, I am not in charge of public information for the State of Israel, nor am I in charge of government policy regarding the abductees, and I will no longer hold any press conferences here at the hospital," he said.