Eli Sharabi Has Still Not Met Netanyahu: 'Not Something I Need, Nothing Good Would Come of It'

Hostage survivor Eli Sharabi said today in an interview with Kan News on Reshet Bet that he has not met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even once since October 7. He shared his feelings about the possibility of meeting Netanyahu and said he does not expect it: "I know that nothing good would come of it. It is naive to think I would sit with the prime minister and say all the right and precise things. I am not dealing with that."

Sharabi said the failure to establish a state commission of inquiry harms the country’s path and values, but said he does not think a meeting with Netanyahu would advance that goal: "The moment I say that to him, would Netanyahu say, 'Wow, Eli Sharabi told me, so tomorrow I will establish a commission of inquiry'? That is not going to happen." Sharabi continued to cast doubt on his ability to move the prime minister from his position on a commission of inquiry: "I do not want to be in a place where I said the things, they were heard, and then moved on. No one wants to learn in order to make sure something like this does not happen again in the future. It is more sad than angry."

"The State of Israel has always established commissions of inquiry after every war, in order to learn and draw conclusions," Sharabi said in the interview. "When you do not do that for 1,000 days, it is clear that someone is not comfortable with such a commission of inquiry." He clarified, however, that he does not want to focus on negative feelings and chooses to "keep moving forward, looking ahead, building, doing."

Sharabi’s remarks come against the backdrop of Netanyahu’s clear opposition to a state commission of inquiry and the продвижение of the law for a political committee. In the central edition, we reported on the change made to the wording of the bill to establish a commission of inquiry into October 7, which signals that Netanyahu is working to grant new authority to the elected state comptroller, his attorney Michael Ravillo, under which he would appoint half of the members of the planned commission of inquiry.

This is not the first time Sharabi, who was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Be'eri and released in a deal after 491 days, has criticized politicians and the country’s leadership. In an interview on "Meet the Press" this past January, he pointed to the leadership’s responsibility for public discourse, especially toward the attorney general and the president of the Supreme Court: "They use violent discourse. I think they forget for a moment that people are watching them, listening to them, and their words can be very problematic."