While Mossad chief David Barnea will fly to Qatar on Friday to attend a potential truce and hostage release deal in Gaza, a controversy of a different kind is taking over Israel. A leading Israeli news channel's statement that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife Sara complained about freed hostages not thanking them has triggered a row in Israel.
According to Channel 12 news, Netanyahu's wife told an unidentified opposition lawmaker during a recent meeting to discuss a potential hostage deal: "Did you see how many hostages came back? They didn’t even say thanks to us."
Over 253 Israelis were kidnapped by Hamas militants during the October 7 attack. While 105 hostages were released under a weeklong truce in November, three hostages have been rescued alive by IDF troops. Over 11 hostages were found dead, including three who were mistakenly killed by the military in mid-December.
Over 130 hostages abducted on October 7 remain in Gaza, and the IDF has confirmed the deaths of 33 of those still being held.
After the report came out, Netanyahu's office quickly issued a statement denying the report. The PMO adamantly denied that his wife had made such comments, saying the report "contains lies and far-fetched fabrications."
Sara Netanyahu too refused to react to the report. While attending a prayer service Thursday evening at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on behalf of the hostages, she opted to ignore a question about her purported remark.
However, the report infuriated freed hostages, who took to social media to vent their anger at the purported remarks.
Liam Or, freed in November, took a swipe at Netanyahu over the report. "Sorry I was kidnapped," he wrote on his Instagram account alongside a screenshot from the Channel 12 report.
Another freed hostage Maya Regev wrote on her own social media: "Sorry that I was kidnapped. And I’m even more sorry that this is what they’re dealing with instead of bringing my brothers and sisters home."
Yagil Yaakov, 13, who was kidnapped along with his brother and freed in November, and whose father’s body is still being held hostage, wrote on Instagram: "Sorry I was kidnapped. Next time I’ll fund my own vacation in Gaza."
