Hostage Survivor Eli Sharabi Accuses Israeli Politicians Of Deliberately Minimizing October 7
Former hostage who lost wife and two daughters criticizes Netanyahu's weight loss remark and Smotrich's claim of credit for hostage returns as part of coordinated effort to downplay massacre.
Hostage survivor Eli Sharabi charged Monday that Israeli political leaders are engaged in a deliberate, coordinated campaign to minimize and erase the October 7 massacre from public consciousness, driven by electoral calculations and internal political positioning ahead of upcoming elections.
Speaking on Kan News's "Midday" program, Sharabi leveled sharp criticism at recent statements from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, describing their remarks as part of a broader pattern of what he characterized as intentional downplaying of the tragedy that claimed the lives of over 1,200 Israelis and led to the capture of 251 others.
"Some of what's being said and done is not being done by accident," Sharabi stated, his voice steady and direct. "Someone is pulling strings on this matter and managing it — in the sense of making people forget the date and the scale of the disaster. There is definitely a very large interest in minimizing this thing. Each one in their small corner will do what they think and do what needs to be done."
Sharabi, held captive for 491 days, lost his wife Lian and two daughters, Noya and Yehel, in the October 7 attack on Kibbutz Be'eri. His brother Yosef was also taken hostage and killed after 100 days in captivity.
The hostage survivor's criticism centered on Netanyahu's recent Channel 14 interview in which the prime minister joked that one thing October 7 had changed about him was that he had "lost a little weight." According to Sharabi, the remark demonstrated a profound disconnect from the human toll of the massacre.
"I lost considerably more weight than the prime minister did — over 491 days," Sharabi said in response. According to reports, Sharabi described Netanyahu's comment as "another embarrassing statement from people who claim to be leaders of the State of Israel for the people of Israel."
Sharabi also criticized Finance Minister Smotrich over claims the minister made that hostages returned as a result of his personal intervention. According to reports from early July, Smotrich had asserted in a podcast interview that "because of me, all the hostages are here," a claim that drew sharp rebukes from both hostage families and opposition figures.
"October 7 and many days afterward became days of disaster and national mourning for thousands of families," Sharabi said of such political claims. "Statements of this kind are simply audacity and irresponsibility."
Sharabi also addressed critical remarks from Ra'am party chairman Mansour Abbas, who has repeatedly declined to formally designate Hamas as a terrorist organization. According to Sharabi, Abbas's refusal represents a troubling moral failure.
"It is certainly sad to hear that Mansour Abbas, who is considered a moderate Arab-Israeli, is unable to say the simplest thing: that the Hamas organization is a terrorist organization, something that is clear to the entire world," Sharabi stated.
Speaking more broadly about Israel's political leadership, Sharabi expressed dismay at what he characterized as a pervasive loss of humility and moral grounding among elected officials. "Public officials who award themselves crowns, even when justified --- I cannot hear that. Our public representatives lost long ago any measure of humility and modesty, and unfortunately, some of them have also lost their sanity," he said.
The timing of these political remarks coincides with the 2026 election cycle, which analysts and political observers have identified as influencing how different figures frame and discuss the October 7 attack. Sharabi's comments suggest that survivors and bereaved families view such framing as deeply disrespectful to their loss.
Recent months have also witnessed continued legal and political battles over establishing a state commission of inquiry into the governmental and security failures surrounding October 7. Netanyahu has consistently opposed such an inquiry while the war remains active, a position that has drawn sustained criticism from opposition figures and survivor advocacy groups.