Einav Zangauker says MKs ‘afraid to hear’ about hostages’ plight; MK Rothman aborts committee meeting in spat with parents of Oct. 7 victims
By ToI Staff
Times of Israel
Today
Einav Zangauker, mother of Matan Zangauker who is being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, sits on the street near the Begin Gate at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, June 1, 2024.
Einav Zangauker, mother of Matan Zangauker who is being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, sits on the street near the Begin Gate at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, June 1, 2024.
(Paulina Patimer / Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)
Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker and a prominent voice in the fight to secure a deal for the release of those held captive in the Gaza Strip was prevented from entering the Knesset Wednesday due to “serious violations of order.”
The Knesset Spokesperson’s Office said Zangauker has, “despite her repeated promises, continued to seriously violate order.”
“She prevented the proper conduct of committee discussions; she attempted to throw a glass bottle at a guest; and if that were not enough, in the presence of the chief of Knesset security, she threatened that she would stab a guest if she had a knife,” the statement said. “This is unacceptable behavior that cannot be allowed.”
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The statement noted that many “conversations” had been held with Zangauker to enable her continued visits, in which she was asked to promise not to engage in such activity, “but regrettably they were repeated again and again.”
Zangauker was notified the night before about the situation, the statement said.
It was unclear if Zanguaker has been barred permanently.
Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker and a prominent voice in the fight to secure a deal for the release of those held captive in the Gaza Strip was prevented from entering the Knesset Wednesday due to “serious violations of order.”
The Knesset Spokesperson’s Office said Zangauker has, “despite her repeated promises, continued to seriously violate order.”
“She prevented the proper conduct of committee discussions; she attempted to throw a glass bottle at a guest; and if that were not enough, in the presence of the chief of Knesset security, she threatened that she would stab a guest if she had a knife,” the statement said. “This is unacceptable behavior that cannot be allowed.”
Keep Watching
The statement noted that many “conversations” had been held with Zangauker to enable her continued visits, in which she was asked to promise not to engage in such activity, “but regrettably they were repeated again and again.”
Zangauker was notified the night before about the situation, the statement said.
It was unclear if Zanguaker has been barred permanently.
Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, speaks during a Knesset committee hearing on December 16, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
In response, Zangauker said the government is “trying to silence the families of the hostages.”
“How is it logical that my son was kidnapped on the watch of 120 Knesset members, and I don’t have the right to visit them in the building?” she said, according to Kan news.
“The Knesset is afraid to hear what is happening to the kidnapped men and women while they transfer funds and trade jobs between themselves,” she said.
The hostages were abducted from Israel on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Of the 251 hostages taken to Gaza that day, 96 remain in captivity, many of them no longer alive.
Talks via mediators to secure a hostage release deal with Hamas that would include a ceasefire have so far failed, and the most recent effort has also appeared to hit a wall.
Two weeks ago, Zangauker attended the Knesset Committee for Strengthening and Developing the Negev and Galilee, where she lambasted lawmaker Ze’ev Elkin, a minister in the Finance Ministry, and threatened to “take the law into her own hands” if her son does not return alive from captivity.
Earlier this month, Hamas released a propaganda video showing the first sign of life from Matan, 14 months after he was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz alongside his girlfriend, Ilana Gritzewsky, who was released in late November 2023 as part of a weeklong truce deal.
In the likely coerced propaganda video, Matan said he and his fellow captives “die 1,000 deaths every day” and that he has seen how active his mother has been in working to bring him home.
MK Simcha Rotman, chair of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee leads a committee meeting in the Knesset in Jerusalem on December 24, 2024.
(Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main NGO representing families of hostages, said in a statement that it condemns the ban on Zangauker from the Knesset as “harming the basic right of the families of hostages to make their voices heard in the place where fateful decisions are made.”
Meanwhile, Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman, the chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, aborted a meeting of the panel Wednesday because family members of those killed in the Hamas attack who spoke at the meeting went on beyond their allotted time.
The families were from the October Council, a group demanding a state commission of inquiry into the failures that led to the October 7 massacres. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far refused to set up such a committee.
Rafi Ben Shitrit, whose soldier son Alroy Ben Shitrit died in battle at the Nahal Oz military post, told Rothman as he left the room that he should “be ashamed.”
“You have no patience. Two minutes. My son didn’t even have two minutes to get ready” to battle the invading terrorists, he said to Rothman, whose party opposes a hostage release deal if it requires ending the war.
A video shared on social media showed the moment when Rothman stormed out of the meeting.
רפי בן שטרית ממועצת אוקטובר, אבא של אלרועי שנפל בקרב על מוצב נחל עוז ליו"ר ועדת חוקה רוטמן שמוציא את הדיון להפסקה כי המשפחות דורשות לדבר:
תתבייש לך, אני איבדתי את הבן היחיד שלי, אין לו סבלנות, שתי דקות, לבן שלי לא היו אפילו שתי דקות להתארגן לשים עליו שכפץ וקסדה pic.twitter.com/UhPvYbbkmK
— Noa Shpigel (@NoaShpigel) January 1, 2025
Rothman later said in a statement that families “receive time to make their remarks heard at Knesset committee deliberations, in a manner that enables upholding the Knesset work.”
He said he allowed the families to continue a bit beyond their allowed time “but to my regret” was then forced to cancel the meeting. Rothman claimed that another MK had brought the families to the meeting along with media “in order to ruin the meeting and not let it be held.”
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main NGO representing families of hostages, said in a statement that it condemns the ban on Zangauker from the Knesset as “harming the basic right of the families of hostages to make their voices heard in the place where fateful decisions are made.”
Meanwhile, Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman, the chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, aborted a meeting of the panel Wednesday because family members of those killed in the Hamas attack who spoke at the meeting went on beyond their allotted time.
The families were from the October Council, a group demanding a state commission of inquiry into the failures that led to the October 7 massacres. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far refused to set up such a committee.
Rafi Ben Shitrit, whose soldier son Alroy Ben Shitrit died in battle at the Nahal Oz military post, told Rothman as he left the room that he should “be ashamed.”
“You have no patience. Two minutes. My son didn’t even have two minutes to get ready” to battle the invading terrorists, he said to Rothman, whose party opposes a hostage release deal if it requires ending the war.
A video shared on social media showed the moment when Rothman stormed out of the meeting.
רפי בן שטרית ממועצת אוקטובר, אבא של אלרועי שנפל בקרב על מוצב נחל עוז ליו"ר ועדת חוקה רוטמן שמוציא את הדיון להפסקה כי המשפחות דורשות לדבר:
תתבייש לך, אני איבדתי את הבן היחיד שלי, אין לו סבלנות, שתי דקות, לבן שלי לא היו אפילו שתי דקות להתארגן לשים עליו שכפץ וקסדה pic.twitter.com/UhPvYbbkmK
— Noa Shpigel (@NoaShpigel) January 1, 2025
Rothman later said in a statement that families “receive time to make their remarks heard at Knesset committee deliberations, in a manner that enables upholding the Knesset work.”
He said he allowed the families to continue a bit beyond their allowed time “but to my regret” was then forced to cancel the meeting. Rothman claimed that another MK had brought the families to the meeting along with media “in order to ruin the meeting and not let it be held.”
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