Families of hostages taken by Hamas being held in Gaza met with Israeli lawmakers on Monday and urged the government not to pass a law allowing the death penalty for terrorists, reported Haaretz.
“I begged you not to capitalize on our suffering now,” said Gil Dickmann, whose cousin was one of around 240 hostages taken during an assault in Israel by Hamas fighters on Oct. 7.
Dickmann begged in tears for the lawmakers to not go forward with allowing the death penalty, which he and others said could also threaten their family members who are being held hostage.
“Choose our life before the death of our enemy,” said Udi Goren, who had a cousin abducted from their home in the Nir Yitzhak kibbutz.
On X, Israel’s far-right National Security minister Ben Gvir went viral when he started shouting at the family members that they “don’t have a monopoly on pain!”
“Sickening disgrace at Knesset, where NatSecMin Itamar Ben Gvir, a smirking racial supremacist & ex terrorist (& his minions) are screaming at families of Israeli hostages,” wrote @NTarnopolsky on X.
Ben Gvir, whose authority includes control over border patrol units in the West Bank, has been convicted on at least eight charges of supporting a terrorist organization and incitement to racism, reported the New Yorker.
Gvir once used a noose to threaten an Arab lawmaker and hung a picture of Baruch Goldstein, an extreme racist settler who massacred 29 Muslim worshippers at the Cave of the Patriarchs in 1994, in his family living room. Gvir and his wife spent their first date visiting Goldstein’s grave.
Since the Oct. 7 attack, Gvir has toured the country handing out rifles to civilians in parts of the country where the religious right-wing dominates.
After the hearing, Ben Gvir posted a photo of himself hugging Dickmann, whose cousin is being held hostage.
“We love and embrace the families of the abductees and must tell the truth,” Ben Gvir wrote in Hebrew. “Just as the ground maneuver is important for increasing the pressure on Hamas to return the abductees, so is passing a death sentence for its terrorists. In the Middle East they don’t blink – they hit the enemy with all the tools and bring him to his knees.”
“I asked Itamar Ben Gvir to postpone the special discussion on the death penalty law for terrorists,” Dickmann wrote in another tweet. “Itamar caressed my cheek and said ‘I’ll do it anyway’.”
“Get your hands off me,” Dickmann replied to the photo of Ben Gvir holding him, according to a tweet by @BenzionSanders translating a response by Dickmann.
“Don’t hug me. You hugged anyway … Don’t endanger our loved ones … Still, you endangered them … All for a photo,” Dickmann continued.
“Itamar Ben Gvir – You have no limits. We all see you making a circus on our family’s blood. It’s not too late. Stop,” Dickmann finished.
