The father of a hostage killed by Hamas after nearly 11 months in captivity blasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying, "You built the tunnel where my son was murdered."
The confrontation between Elchanan Danino, Netanyahu, and Netanyahu's wife Sara was recorded and aired on Israeli TV on Monday.
Danino's son Ori, 25, was an off-duty soldier with the Paratrooper's Brigade captured from the Supernova music festival and held for months in underground tunnels. The terrorists killed him and five other hostages last week as the Israel Defense Forces worked to rescue them.
His body was returned to Israel last week.
Elchanan Danino blamed the Oct. 7 attack on political divisions that rocked Israel in the months leading up to the massacre, accusing the prime minister of taking part in "petty and cheap politics."
He told Netanyahu, "You people on high have to stop dealing with nonsense and stirring up fights and disagreement. Without unity, we don't deserve this country; there will be no rebuilding without this land."
He said, "Shut your office for 10 minutes a day and think about where your Jewish values are. Shut it down, send everyone out, no phones, spend time alone with your creator and think, where is God in your picture, where are your Jewish values?"
Netanyahu responded, saying, "I won't tell you what goes on behind closed doors. It won't interest you that much either ..."
He said he was fighting "alone ... against the whole world, facing the president of the United States and people here, and facing military elements here to fight and to explain it's not only Hamas; it's not only Hezbollah. It's an atomic weapon they'll drop here on all of us ... I enter [my office] every day and ask myself, 'Why are you here? What am I here for? Why?'"
Elhanan said, "You equipped them with swords. You equipped them with tunnels and dollars. ... Did you come here to listen or to be listened to? Because what you have to say we've heard for 15 years."
Kate McManus ✉
Kate McManus is a New Jersey-based Newsmax writer who's spent more than two decades as a journalist.
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