"[US President Donald] Trump is more of an Israeli patriot than Netanyahu, he is the one speaking directly to Hamas to free hostages" Yehuda Cohen, whose son IDF gunner Nimrod is being held alive in Hamas captivity, said in the Knesset's Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee Monday morning.
"We have got to a situation where it is more important to the Americans to free hostages than to our government. I am speaking to the Knesset here, which is supposed to review the government, and the Knesset is silent - not saying a single word," he added.
"What is Netanyahu doing?" he added. "He is counting the days till March 17. What interests Netanyahu is the budget bill, what interests him is to survive with his coalition, which will maybe give him space for two more years to survive in spite of his criminal trial."
Nimrod's brother Yotam also spoke in the Knesset Monday, telling the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (FADC) that had he known what the current situation would be, he would have told his brother to apply for US citizenship prior to the beginning of his service, because this would have improved his chances of being freed.
Yotam accused the government of not caring as much for the hostages as the US did for its citizens. His comments referred to reports that Adam Boehler, US President Donald Trump’s hostage envoy, had negotiated directly with Hamas over the return of dual Israeli-US citizens still in captivity.
"It can't be that this teudat zehut (ID card) is worth garbage - absolutely nothing," he told the committee. "
"What is being a citizen of this country worth? Why did I draft to the IDF? Why did my brother draft? Why is my sister in the IDF now? For what?" he asked angrily.
“There are days when I feel ashamed to hold Israeli citizenship.” There were days when he, as an IDF officer, was proud to walk around in uniform, but no longer, he said.
"You, the coalition, the government that that sent him there, that is leaving him there, if need be - crawl on all fours through the sand in Gaza and go get him," he charged.
"If you don't want to go get him, send your own children to rot in Gaza."
He also criticized the members of the government who were pushing for Israel to return to war. Cohen quoted the New York Times report that 41 hostages who had been captured alive had been killed in captivity and argued that a reinvasion of Gaza would endanger the remaining hostages, up to 24 of whom are still alive.
"I suggest that every mother and every parent whose son is going to be drafted into the IDF ensure that your son is a US citizen before he is drafted, because otherwise he is not coming back," he said in a meeting of the Special Committee for Strengthening and Developing the Negev and Galilee.
Families of hostages also gave Knesset and Government representatives pita bread, wrapped up with yellow ribbon.
Also in the meeting of the Special Committee for Strengthening and Developing the Negev and Galilee, Yotam handed Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli a pita with the quote from freed hostage Eli Sharabi's interview on Channel 12's Uvda "opening a fridge is an entire world."
"There is a pita here, which is about the weekly amount that the hostages eat in captivity," he told the minister.
"I would like to gift this to you, as a symbol of recognition, for the fact that you are abandoning hostages in captivity, and I would like it if every time you open the fridge, you will remember that my brother is hungry in captivity."
A cousin of Ofer Kalderon handed Government Secretary Yossi Fuchs a gift-wrapped pita, and requested that it be passed on to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He called it a “Mishloach Manot,” the traditional gift given on Purim, which will be celebrated this weekend.
'Dealing in death'
Shimon Or, uncle of Avinatan Or, who is still in captivity, argued in the FADC meeting that the government was “dealing in death” by negotiating for a few hostages at a time and not demanding the release of all remaining hostages.
In the same meeting, Yizhar Lifshitz, son of Oded Lifshitz, whose body was returned last month, said that the “Witkoff Proposal” to return half of the remaining live hostages, would make it difficult to return the rest of the live hostages, since they will be Hamas’s last bargaining chips and will not be released easily.
Speaking in the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee meeting, Danny Elgarat, whose brother Itzik was killed in Hamas captivity and returned to Israel for burial last month, highlighted the different treatment from Danish and Israeli officials after his brother's death.
"You didn't call to express your condolences, you didn't write anything on Twitter about my brother - you ignored.," he told committee head Simcha Rothman.
"I want to tell you that the Queen on Denmark sent a bouquet. The Danish parliament met in an emergency session and stood in a moment of silence. The prime minister of Denmark [Mette Frederiksen] sent a condolence letter in her own hand," he said, adding that the Copenhagen municipality also decided to name a square after his brother.
"Long live the small difference between a Danish citizen and an Israeli citizen, as they say," he added sarcastically.
"So I want to tell you that he is no longer in captivity, but he also did not come back; he was abandoned to his death, and he was buried. He is no longer suffering, he is not being starved, he is not a hostage, he is a victim."