Freed Hostage Or Levy Slams Hostage Envoy Gal Hirsch
In a viral response, survivor Or Levy condemns hostage coordinator Gal Hirsch for shifting blame onto families and protesters while neglecting those left behind in Gaza.
Or Levy, a survivor of Hamas captivity, launched a scathing attack on Gal Hirsch, the Prime Minister’s Coordinator for Captives and Missing Persons, following a controversial interview Hirsch gave to Haaretz. In the interview, Hirsch claimed that protests calling for the release of hostages inadvertently aided Hamas.
"Everything happening lately is a political spin and a struggle to change the narrative," Levy stated in a fiery response.
Levy’s anger was sparked by Hirsch’s assertion that "the demonstrations for the hostages helped Hamas, and there was no need to create a sense of urgency for us."
Directing his comments at the envoy, Levy wrote: "So, dear Gal Hirsch, I’ll start by addressing you. I’m not even sure you really know who I am because, aside from asking 'Do you want to say something to Trump?', you haven’t exchanged a single word with me."
Levy continued by crediting his return to international pressure rather than the Israeli government. "To Trump, I wanted to say: Thank you! Thank you for bringing me back. Not you, not the Prime Minister, and not anyone else. No one should take credit for what they didn't do. When you received footage of us (including things never published), you chose to stay silent. Now, we are the ones to blame? Us! The ones you didn't protect, the ones you abandoned!"
The survivor shared that upon his return, he realized how much the political climate had shifted. He recalled Hirsch calling his mother only to ask if Or would like to speak with the Prime Minister.
"I said no. I don’t need favors from anyone," Levy said. "Now I see how the election campaign is the only thing that matters, changing the narrative of what has been happening here for over two years."
Levy challenged the government's rhetoric regarding the negotiations: "Of course you'll say Hamas wanted to negotiate for 10 years; of course you'll say you aren't to blame. You try to paint a picture that you brought everyone back, counting bodies in the same tally as the living, but the fact is, it doesn't matter. Hamas is a terror organization that sanctifies death; we cannot measure ourselves against them."
In his most personal appeal, Levy spoke of the toll the situation has taken on his family and the families of those who were held in the Gaza Strip.
"Gal Hirsch, shame on you! Who are you to talk about us or our families? Who are you to say anything to my 70-year-old parents, who had to tell a two-year-old baby that his mother was murdered and his father 'got lost'?"
He concluded with a bleak assessment of the political landscape: "There is zero respect in Israeli politics. Looking for honesty and goodness in this place is like looking for 251 hostages in Gaza."