Father of Israeli Captive: Netanyahu “Committing War Crimes in Gaza”

Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- The father of an Israeli captive held in Gaza said on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “committing war crimes” against Gaza residents and Israeli soldiers, expressing his support for the international arrest warrant issued against the Israeli leader.

Yehuda Cohen, the father of 19-year-old soldier Nimrod Cohen, criticised Netanyahu for prolonging the war on Gaza for his own “private interests” during a discussion with families of captives in the Knesset on Monday, Israeli media reported.

Cohen’s remarks sparked anger amongst members of parliament. Cohen added that Netanyahu was “not only committing war crimes against the residents of Gaza, but also against IDF soldiers”.

MK Eliyahu Revivo, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, shot back at the father, saying: “If you continue your blatant words, you will put your son in the Hamas dungeons for many more years.”

Cohen also expressed support for international law, and said he supported the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Netanyahu because “the Israeli government, the coalition, has betrayed the state”.

He condemned the far-right government for having a preference for a “murderous ideology”, where it believes the building of illegal settlements and the death of soldiers is more valuable than saving lives.

“Your party is only concerned with death. Just because Orit Strook decides to sacrifice her sons does not mean that I should sacrifice my son, or that every other family in the country should sacrifice its son because of an ideological idea that is against international law.”

“That is called fascism,” Cohen added. A far-right politician, Strook is Israel’s settlements minister.

Monday’s discussion has sparked debate on Israeli social media.

In a post on X, opposition leader Yair Lapid criticised Revivo’s statements against a father of a captive.

“MK Eliyahu Revivo’s pathetic remarks are another terrible disgrace for the Knesset. He should be ashamed that he supports a government that abandons kidnapped people,” Lapid wrote.

Revivo replied to Lapid and wrote: “Yair, you can continue trying to gather votes and attempt to return to being a party with a double-digit number of mandates. It still won’t change the fact that you had enough opportunities to join the government in order to promote a hostage release deal, and you know very well what I’m talking about. However, for your own reasons, you preferred to remain on the sidelines and occasionally emerge to scream in the square.”

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