Tzvika Mor, whose son Eitan was released from Hamas captivity after more than two years, issued a sharp response following a Calcalist report criticizing the salary of the coordinator for hostages and missing persons, Gal Hirsch.
In a post published after the report, Mor accused the newspaper of engaging in selective criticism aimed at figures he said are associated with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s circle.
“Nice that Calcalist suddenly cares about the state coffers," Mor wrote, adding that former senior officials in the defense establishment receive substantial state pensions despite, he claimed, having expressed offensive statements about Israel or having failed in their professional responsibilities.
Mor pointed to one former MK and current left wing political figure who said that “Israel kills Gazan children as a hobby," and called for withholding budgets from areas with high enlistment and reserve service rates. He also referred to other senior figures who, he said, “failed on October 7" and nevertheless continue to receive generous pensions."
According to Mor, the criticism directed at Hirsch is part of what he described as a broader effort to undermine figures linked to Netanyahu. “The deep state ordered a destruction of worth across Netanyahu’s circle, and now it is Gal Hirsch’s turn," he wrote.
Mor also referenced the cases of missing and fallen Israelis, including Eli Cohen and Ron Arad, claiming that conditions may now be emerging to bring them to burial in Israel. He argued that this complex, long-term work is being ignored by Hirsch’s critics.
Addressing the salary at the center of the controversy, Mor wrote: “Forty-one thousand shekels [before taxes] for another two months is nothing for someone who worked for two years, 24/7, and helped bring back all the captives. If you kept saying [return the hostages] ‘at any price,’ then does 41,000 shekels really bother you?"