Transportation Minister Miri Regev responded to an apology from Nissim Louk, father of Shani Louk, who was murdered at the Nova music festival on October 7.
Earlier, footage emerged of Louk shouting at Regev during her visit to Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda Market, falsely accusing her of evacuating her own daughter from the Nova festival prior to the massacre.
"My heart is with Nissim. I respect him very much, and unfortunately they didn't show the full footage - that after he shouted and lashed out, we sat together, hugged, spoke, and I told him about my daughter Michal, who is a Nova survivor," Regev said in an interview with i24NEWS.
Regev stressed that what hurt her was not the criticism directed at her, but false reports claiming that her daughter had been evacuated from the Nova festival based on advance information, hours before the massacre.
"The most painful thing isn't that people approach me and speak to me the way they do," she explained. "What hurts me is [what they're saying] about my daughter Michal. To come and claim that she was evacuated from Nova before 6:30 is one of the biggest lies there could be. Michal rescued herself and fled Nova at 6:27. The [terrorists] shot at their car, and then they made a U-turn and managed to reach Be'er Sheva. I only learned about everything afterward."
"Nova survivors, including my daughter, are paying a heavy price. They lost friends there. That's why the children shouldn't be dragged into this. I embrace Nissim and the bereaved families," Regev concluded.
Following his outburst, Louk apologized and admitted that he had been "verbally violent." He added, "It wasn't personal. She's a lovely woman."
He also said that he invited Regev to his home and apologized not only on his own behalf, but also on behalf of those who cursed her following the publication of footage of the incident.