Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was killed by Hamas alongside five other hostages after surviving 11 months of captivity, said last week that the hostage families who spoke out against the government were threatened by senior officials.
He made the statement in the Knesset Finance Committee, following up in a Friday X/Twitter post in which he explained that “very senior people in Israel” threatened and conned hostage families.
The threats and manipulations were made by those “whose sole purpose is to silence us, intimidate us, and give the government full credit to continue the war indefinitely and abandon the hostages in Gaza until they are forgotten,” Dickmann said in the post.
He explained that he was hesitant to speak out and is not willing to put the hostages still in Gaza at risk or reveal details while “the situation is so sensitive,” but added that “the truth must be told – so that you can recognize such a threat and expose it, so that those who are making threats now, sometimes publicly using code names, will not be able to continue this extortion.”
Among other threats and manipulations, hostage families were told that if they spoke out, their family member who was held hostage would turn into a symbol.
This included saying things to the families like “because of the activity of the family, the fate of the hostages has been set, it’s better if you are quiet and no one hears from you,” he offered as an example.
Dickmann called this “the cruelest fear tactic in the book.”
“This malicious accusation places the blame on the families as if they are the ones deciding which hostage will be released and which will remain in captivity, who will be murdered and who will stay alive,” he explained.
“In reality, it is Israel that determines who will be released and who is at risk of death. Because it was Israel that submitted the lists of ‘humanitarian hostages’ and decided who was included and who was left out. It is Israel that determines in which area the IDF will operate and when – even when it is known that there is a tangible risk of hostages being found there,” he added.
What were the hostage families told?
DICKMANN SAID that hostage families were told not to reveal that they had received a sign of life from their loved one in captivity, and many complied until they realized that senior Israeli officials had told the US president that most of the hostages were dead in order to show that a hostage deal was not necessary.
He also alleged that the IDF has operated in areas in Gaza in which it did not know whether or not there were hostages, endangering them and sometimes causing their deaths.
“We are warned not to say this either, so as ‘not to harm security and not to reward Hamas.’ But while we refrained from speaking, the pressure led to the deaths of 41 hostages – and could lead to even more.”
The hostage families were also told not to criticize the government because this would lead to division among the people and strengthen Hamas.
“The same government that sends soldiers into battle while passing divisive legislation, inciting against the judiciary, the security establishment, the media, and half the nation – the same government that strengthened Hamas for a decade with cash payments and continues to strengthen it now by leaving the hostages in its hands – is accusing the families of the hostages of empowering Hamas,” he said.
Another thing said to family members of hostages, according to Dickmann, was, “Don’t dare criticize us. You are hurting IDF soldiers and bereaved families. If you are not nice, the nation will hate you.”
“The most hated people in the country – politicians – are telling the families that the public hates them,” he said, adding that the families are told that if they are truthful about how ministers and members of Knesset treat them, they will “bring criticism” on themselves.
Hostage families were also told not to “make noise” lest it “increase the price” for the hostages.
Dickmann called this a threat that has been “whispered for decades,” adding that this was used to silence the families of Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed while “they did almost nothing to bring Avera and Hisham home.”
“The most senior officials in the negotiation rooms told us explicitly – no connection was identified between the noise a family makes and the price, not for their hostage and not for the deal as a whole. The only thing public attention does is push a deal forward. And those who oppose a deal threaten that the noise will raise the price,” Dickmann said.
Dickmann listed additional versions of threats and extortion, adding that there are even more things said to the hostage families to silence them.
“This extortion continues even now. But we have stopped being afraid,” he said.
“It is our duty – the media, the citizens, those who never had hostages in Gaza or whose hostages have already returned in body bags – to point out these threats everywhere. For the families, for the hostages – and for ourselves.”