Channel 12 News’ chief political analyst, Amit Segal, commented Sunday evening on a letter sent by families of hostages to Gal Hirsch, in which they demanded his resignation and accused him of threatening them and serving the Prime Minister's political interests.
“Gal Hirsch says they and Hamas essentially spoke in the same voice. We all know the videos Hamas released every Saturday included messages that were almost identical to what was said at the protests - for example, that Netanyahu is delaying a deal, that now is the time to stop the war, and that military pressure endangers the hostages’ lives. Those who later returned told us what they were instructed to say and what the objective was," Segal said.
He continued: “There’s a rule in politics - when two enemies run the same campaign, one of them is wrong. I can accept the claim that we and Hamas said the same thing, but that we were right - because morally, Israel benefits from returning all the hostages. But don’t gaslight us and say it didn’t happen. Say that it was important on a moral level. Don’t say Hamas said one thing and we said the opposite - because that’s not what happened."
“There’s a claim often made in interviews with returning hostages, who said the protests warmed their hearts - and that is absolutely true. The point was never to say that protests are bad," Segal clarified. “But the narrative that claimed there is only one way to bring the hostages back - by surrendering, withdrawing, ending the war, all of them now and at any price - that was a serious mistake. It did not help the effort to bring the hostages home," he concluded.