Did you work with Gal Hirsch or with the Prime Minister’s Office? (On October 8, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Hirsch to act as the coordinator between the families and the government. Rubinstein contends that, at the time, Hirsch’s team didn’t have comprehensive information regarding the number of hostages.)
“Gal Hirsch only began functioning after two or three weeks. Until then, there was no one to talk to. I don’t know what his contribution was. As far as I can tell, he just held the microphone in meetings with the families. He told them they shouldn’t hold protests [to push for their loved ones’ release].
“You need to understand that Netanyahu set up Hirsch’s team because the Prime Minister’s Office didn’t want there to be an external body criticizing the government for its conduct surrounding the hostages.”
Who did you meet with to advance the hostages’ return?
“The first official we met was President Isaac Herzog. It was on October 10. At the time, the reported death toll from the attack was only 400. We asked him to use his influence so that there would be someone in the government taking care of the families.”
Gal Hirsch, the government’s point man on missing and kidnapped citizens, left, speaks to a relative of a captive Israeli ahead of a meeting with families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza and Israelis who were released from Hamas captivity in Herzliya, December 5, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
When did the prime minister meet the hostages’ families for the first time?
“On October 15. Until then, there had been no meeting with him or anyone on his behalf.”
Did you feel like the government was ignoring you?
“Absolutely. No representative of the government or the IDF had updated the families of the hostages that the IDF was beginning its ground offensive in the Gaza Strip. We couldn’t understand how it could be that the families weren’t getting updated on the ramifications this could have for them.”
How did you deal with this?
“On that day, October 26, I called on the families to come to Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. At the assembly, we announced that the prime minister and the defense minister must meet the families, but there was no response to that from Netanyahu’s or Yoav Gallant’s offices.
“So we said that if we didn’t get an immediate response, the families would camp outside the Kirya IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv.
“After that, Gallant promised in a statement to meet the families the next day. We told him we weren’t willing to wait. That evening, Netanyahu’s office announced that he would meet the families’ representatives.”
What was the atmosphere like?
“We left the meeting very disappointed because Netanyahu talked about dismantling Hamas as the goal of the war. He didn’t promise anything regarding the demand to return the hostages. He merely said a military operation in Gaza was needed to serve as leverage for the hostages’ release.
“We later found out that Hamas had offered on October 9 or 10 to release all the civilian hostages in exchange for the IDF not entering the Strip, but the government rejected the offer.”
