During a debate in the Knesset on Tuesday, Likud lawmaker Hanoch Milwidsky, chairman of the Finance Committee, said Israel “should not turn the country upside down over corpses” in reference to the remains of hostages held in Gaza.
At least 26 bodies of Israeli hostages remain in the Gaza Strip, along with two captives whose lives are believed to be at serious risk. The discussion began when opposition lawmaker Naor Shiri of the centrist Yesh Atid party said Israel owed an apology to the families of soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, whose bodies were taken to Gaza during the 2014 Gaza war, known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge. He said the state had failed them by not doing enough to bring them home.
Milwidsky replied: “I don’t think we should turn the country upside down over corpses. I don’t think we should endanger soldiers for corpses or overturn the country.” He added that “an entire camp is busy spreading messages that are not those of the State of Israel,” a reference to opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Tensions over the hostages have surfaced repeatedly during debates in Knesset. In January, Yehuda Cohen, father of hostage Nimrod Cohen, expressed support for an international arrest warrant issued against Netanyahu. He accused the prime minister of committing war crimes “not only against Gaza residents, but also against IDF soldiers,” saying that if the warrants pushed him toward a hostage deal, “that’s what I’ll do.”
Likud lawmaker Eliyahu Revivo shouted back at Cohen: “If you continue your disgraceful words, you will keep your son in Hamas’ dungeons for many more years.”