Rom Braslavski, who survived months in Hamas captivity, spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a live social media broadcast, thanking the premier for bringing the hostages home while voicing concerns about Israel's direction following upcoming elections.
Watch the Exchange
Hostage to PM: Afraid of Palestinian Gov't
Rom Braslavski, released from Hamas captivity, spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a live social media conversation, thanking him for the hostages' return while expressing fears about Israel's political future after elections.
"I prefer to put my vote with the right and not go to the left, because I'm afraid a Palestinian government will rise here for the second time," Braslavski said during the exchange.
The freed hostage then pressed Netanyahu on a sensitive question: "Why did Eisenkot decide to abandon the war cabinet at the most critical moment for the State of Israel in the war? They just got up and left while I was in Gaza. How do you do something like that?" Netanyahu responded that "they did it because they couldn't withstand the pressure, there were protests at Kaplan and they pressured them."
Netanyahu continued, asking Braslavski: "You think there wasn't pressure on me? And now there isn't pressure? There was also pressure from the U.S., very strong pressure to stop the war, not to continue the conquest of Rafah and of course also the conquest of Philadelphi, and then to enter Lebanon and destroy Nasrallah and the missiles there and continue to Iran. I thought about you Rom, and about others. Without this military pressure we wouldn't have brought about your release."
"I'm very happy you came home, together with the rest of the hostages," Netanyahu told the freed captive. "I promised we would do it, we kept it, and we brought everyone back without exception."
"When you took control of Rafah, I was there in those moments," Braslavski noted in the conversation. "I sat in Rafah, I heard the buildings falling one after another, and I was proud of what the army was doing."
Concluding the exchange, Braslavski told Netanyahu that "even though there are many gaps between us, I want to thank you for making the efforts, and the fact is you brought me back and everyone. And I want to thank the prime minister who did this. Well done on the war in Gaza, you must not take your foot off the gas."
The Netanyahu-Braslavski conversation| צילום: Photo: Likud Spokesperson
