Former Hostage Eli Sharabi: No Need to Meet Netanyahu, Nothing Good Will Come of It

Former hostage Eli Sharabi said today, Wednesday, on Kan News that he has not met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu מאז October 7 and does not want to. "I do not waste my energy in places where it is clear to me that nothing good will come of them. Even if they expect me to be some kind of voice representing a certain population, I do not want to represent, I was not elected," Sharabi said in the program "Kovanovic" on Kan News on Reshet Bet. Sharabi described the idea of a conversation with the prime minister as "naivety" that he is unwilling to take part in. "It is naive to think that I will sit with the prime minister and say all the right and precise things. I will not move anything, and I do not want to be in a place where I said the things, they were heard and passed on. I am wasting time. It is better for me to raise money for the "Shalva Sharabi" center that we are building in Ashkelon, it is much more important to me to make every effort there, and to bring a smile to children with special needs and their families. Much more important to me than a meeting with the prime minister." Sharabi noted that he has met and spoken with ministers "from all sides of the spectrum," but expressed skepticism about the benefit of a possible meeting with Netanyahu. "What will I get out of it? Do you think that at that moment when I tell him this (Netanyahu) he will say, 'Wow, Eli Sharabi told me, so tomorrow I will establish a state commission of inquiry'? No, that will not happen." Sharabi concluded that the failure to establish a commission of inquiry harms the country. "No one wants to learn in order to prevent something like this from happening again in the future, it is more saddening than angering." In the interview, Sharabi was asked about his feelings regarding the fact that soon the 1,000th day since the start of the "Swords of Iron" war will be marked without a commission of inquiry having been established. "The State of Israel has always established commissions of inquiry for every war there was, to learn, to draw conclusions. And when they do not do it for 1,000 days, it is clear that someone is uncomfortable with such a commission of inquiry." "I do not want to spend all day wallowing in negative emotions like anger and a desire for revenge," Sharabi said, adding that he "chooses to keep moving forward, to look ahead, to build, to do." Earlier this week, Sharabi arrived at his home in Kibbutz Be'eri, from which he was kidnapped on the morning of October 7, in order to visit it before its demolition. "The feelings are complex, and when you meet the neighbors who lived with us for years, and the friends gather. The memories and experiences from inside the house come up and surface like that." Sharabi said that his daughters' friends wanted to join him to see the house one last time. "And then of course you remember the first and third of October, the girls' birthdays, when this house was bustling with children celebrating the girls with cake and candles and balloons and laughter and dancing." Sharabi described the kibbutz as a place that was "magical in its beauty, with life and creative joy," but added that he does not intend to return there. "Today it is a sadder place, more complex, and right now one big construction site. That is Be'eri's DNA, to get up, recover, do, grow. It suits me less in the situation that has been created. I need a new beginning somewhere else, and I am building it." Sharabi, 54, was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Be'eri in Hamas's October 7 terror attack. His wife Lian and their two daughters, Noiya and Yahel, were murdered in the massacre. Sharabi was released on February 8, 2025, after 491 days in captivity. His brother Yossi was also kidnapped and was murdered after 100 days in captivity.