The former national security minister said he was ‘proud’ of his conduct when questioned by journalists
March 2, 2025 09:51
Israel’s former national security minister has refused to apologise to several recently released hostages who said his efforts to deteriorate the conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons caused Hamas to escalate the mistreatment of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
Instead, Ben Gvir, who resigned from his position in January to protest the hostage-ceasefire truce, defended his conduct during a Channel 13 interview on Saturday, and said he was “proud of it”, reported the Times of Israel.
Eli Sharabi, who was released on 8 February after 491 days in captivity, said during a Channel 12 interview broadcast Thursday that his captors closely followed the news, and he cautioned that the remarks made by leaders in the media have “lots and lots of power.”
“Every irresponsible statement — we’re the first ones to suffer [the consequences],” he said on air. “They come to us and tell us, ‘They aren’t giving our prisoners food — you won’t eat. They’re beating our prisoners — we’ll beat you.
They aren’t letting them shower — you won’t get to shower.’”
The 53-year-old has described the horrific conditions in which he was held captive — including being starved and kept in chains for the nearly 500 days he spent in Gaza.
Sharabi’s comments followed the remarks made days earlier by Eliya Cohen, who survived 505 days of captivity. She singled out the public statements made by then-minister Ben Gvir.
But when the accusations were posed to him, the far-right former minister refused to express remorse, and instead said the media was “echoing Hamas propaganda”.
“Not only do I not apologise — I’m proud of what I did,” he told the interviewer, rehashing the steps he took to deteriorate the conditions of Palestinian inmates.
He claimed that Sharabi also said in his interview that Israeli Air Force strikes caused the terror group to punish him via beating, asking the journalists if that means the military should have avoided striking the Gaza Strip.
Einav Zangauker, one of the leaders of the hostage-deal movement and the mother of captive Matan Zangauker, claimed Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knew of the consequences of Ben Gvir’s public statements but chose to do nothing, according to reports in Haaretz.
“[Senior officials] told me that Netanyahu knew about all the torture the hostages are subjected to,” she said. “He knew the meaning of Ben Gvir’s statements, how because of him [Hamas] tortured hostages. And he shut up and normalized [it] and let [Ben Gvir] continue abusing the hostages.”
Throughout his nearly two-year tenure as national security minister, Ben Gvir made it his mission to petition against what he described as “luxury” items given to security prisoners. He moved to ban fresh pita being served in jails and limit shower times for inmates.
Following the October 7 attacks, the then-minister called for new restrictions, including the removal of beds, reported the Times of Israel.
He frequently cites his prison policies as one of his proudest achievements in government, although his two years in office saw a significant rise in terror attacks, according to Shin Bet statistics.
Terror groups are still holding 59 hostages in Gaza, including 58 of the 251 abducted by Hamas on October 7. This includes the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.