Eli Elbag, the father of Liri Elbag, the 19-year-old soldier who is currently being held captive by Hamas, attacked Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's recent comments regarding the hostages on Tuesday.
Eli claimed that he "exploded" on Smotrich and "will continue [to do so] every time he expresses himself with genius ideas."
Elbag's remarks slammed Smotrich's previous comments regarding that "the return of the hostages is not the most important objective [of the war]." As such, Elbag targeted Smotrich by wishing Smotrich's children would be kidnapped "and after that happens, we will see what he has to say. Right now Smotrich has no right to speak and he should be quiet."
According to him however, he claims to trust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in promoting the release of the hostages, including his daughter, who is the youngest girl to remain in Hamas captivity. "I want my daughter home," Elbag emotionally stated.
"I want my daughter home"
Eli Elbag, Father of Hostage Liri Elbag
He further believes that "Netanyahu is committed [to returning the hostages]. There is no one who isn't committed, I had a meeting with the cabinet members, including Deri. If we continue on the sixth of October, we will lose the country, not only the children but the country."
"If we continue on the path of October 6 we will have no country"
Smotrich briefly addressed Elbag's comments on X (formerly Twitter) saying "I will continue to respect and embrace the families of the hostages unconditionally. I will keep working for a military decision as well as the surrender of Hamas since this is the only way to return the hostages."
Regarding a hostage deal, Elbag demanded it be implemented as soon as possible, claiming that they [the families of the hostages] were in the dark for many months.
"There is nothing more important than releasing the hostages. Imagine that it was your child who was kidnapped, that they haven't answered you in days, and you know they are in the hands of bad people. I want you to think of what you would do in that situation."