In an interview airing motzei Shabbat on "Pegi'shah im Roni Kuban," MK Chili Tropper reveals that during the Swords of Iron war, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was asked to stop making public statements about the conditions he imposed on security prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails. The request came after intelligence indicated that Israeli hostages in Gaza were being abused, with their captors claiming "it's because of what Ben-Gvir is doing to our prisoners." According to Trooper, Ben-Gvir refused the request and continued to speak publicly on the issue.
Later in the interview, Tropper explains why he decided to disband the party he founded with Yoaz Hendel and join Gadi Eizenkot's "Yashar!" party, rather than Naftali Bennett's "Beyachad."
Trooper also addresses the severe rumors spread against him online: "There's a moment when you say there's a limit to how much poison I'm willing to absorb. I had to sit down with the children and explain to them. Of course they're with me, and they believe me."
When Kuban asked what happens in such a conversation and pressed: "Do you have to tell them 'Dad's not a pedophile'?", Trooper replied: "I explain to them, they understand what the political arena is. 'They'll publish that Dad's a pedophile, it's clear to you that it's an absolute lie.' Clear, clear, clear. But pleasant? It's not pleasant. These aren't places you want to get to with your children."
Trooper also spoke about the scars left by his military service in the Duvdevan unit. Looking back on the nighttime operations to arrest wanted men, in which they would enter homes in the middle of the night before the suspect could reach a weapon or flee, he shares the emotional complexity that accompanied those operations: "You break into a house in the middle of the night, and the first one to wake up is a child or a baby. The children cry because you're taking their father. It's very clear to me why I did it and I'm completely convinced it's the right thing, but that doesn't make it easier, it makes it more costly."
Trooper says he doesn't wake up from it at night, but the memories still stay with him: "I can remember that child in Kafr a-Zawiya whose father we took just before dawn. I know how important it was to take his father, but there, I still see that child standing in the corner of the kitchen and screaming. It's good we took him, but what do you do with that memory? You live with it, it's part of who we are." He also speaks about the crisis of faith that has accompanied him since October 7.
From Minister Ben-Gvir's office came the response: Minister Ben-Gvir is proud that he changed the policy in the prisons from one end to the other. The claim that the hostages were beaten because of Minister Ben-Gvir is a prize for Hamas. Hamas raped, murdered, massacred long before Prime Minister Netanyahu allowed Minister Ben-Gvir to change the conditions in the prisons. Hamas abused the hostages long before the change in prison conditions was publicized. Some of the hostages also said that because of Air Force bombings they were beaten, would you expect the Air Force not to bomb?
"Pegi'shah im Roni Kuban," will air on motzei Shabbat, immediately after the news broadcast, on Kan 11 and Kan BOX.
