Eli Sharabi attacks Netanyahu, calling it naive to think anything would change

As the 1,000th day since the outbreak of the Iron Swords War approaches, Eli Sharabi, who was released from Hamas captivity in Gaza after 491 days, gives a painful and hard-hitting interview to journalist Roni Kuban. Sharabi, who lost his wife Lian, their two daughters Noa and Yahel, of blessed memory, and his brother Yossi Sharabi, of blessed memory, who was murdered in captivity, explains openly why he chooses not to take part in the official meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and directs harsh criticism at the political leadership.

“I am not wasting my energy on places where I know nothing good will come of it,” Sharabi said during the conversation. “In my view, a meeting with the prime minister will not advance anything. It is naive to think that I will sit with him, say all the right and precise things, and he will say, ‘Okay, Eli said it, so tomorrow I will establish a commission of inquiry.’ That will not happen. I will not move anything, and I do not want to be in a place where I said the things, they were heard, and then they moved on. I am simply wasting time.” Sharabi added that despite public expectations, he does not want to serve as a political mouthpiece. “Even if people expect me to be some kind of voice representing a certain population, I do not want to represent anyone, I was not elected.”

“When they do not establish a commission of inquiry for 1,000 days, it is clear someone is uncomfortable” Sharabi, who grew up and was educated in Kibbutz Be'eri, which he describes as “a learning organization that spends all day analyzing things and drawing conclusions in order to do better,” expressed deep anger over the fact that a state commission of inquiry has not yet been established to examine the failures of October 7 and the war. In his view, this severely damages Israel’s ability to recover and learn lessons for the future. “The State of Israel has always established commissions of inquiry for every war, in order to learn and analyze decision-making,” Sharabi said in pain. “And when this is not done for close to 1,000 days, it is clear that someone is not comfortable with such a commission of inquiry. It is clear that someone does not want it. It makes me angry as a citizen, and above all it makes me sad. The very fact that no one wants to learn so that something like this will not happen again in the future, that saddens me more than it angers me.”

Despite the heavy pain and the personal and national tragedy, Sharabi stresses that he refuses to let this reality consume him from within, and tries to find the strength to choose life. “I do not want to spend all day wallowing in negative emotions like anger and a desire for revenge,” Sharabi concluded candidly. “I choose to keep moving forward, to look ahead, to build, to do.”