Netanyahu finally visits Kibbutz Nir Oz

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(TIMES OF ISRAEL) Six hundred and thirty-six days after the October 7, 2023, massacre, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Thursday visited Kibbutz Nir Oz – the hardest hit community during the onslaught – for the first time, encountering angry and bitter residents, who nevertheless hosted him with courtesy and clung to the hope he will yet bring their loved ones home.

In the emotionally charged visit, Netanyahu and his wife Sara toured the kibbutz, walking through the ravaged, burned-out homes with residents and family members who shared stories of the community, 117 of whose 400 residents were either kidnapped or murdered during the massacre. Nine residents are still held hostage in Gaza.

Despite or because of the widespread carnage, most government politicians, including the Prime Minister, have stayed away from Nir Oz.

With demonstrators gathered at the kibbutz entrance, Netanyahu’s convoy entered Nir Oz through a back gate, where signs calling him “Mr Abandonment” were seen in the background.

Protesters were heard jeering the Prime Minister, calling him a “disgrace” and denouncing him as “corrupt”, an “abandoner” and a “murderer” as the vehicles drove by.

During the tour, a protester with a loudspeaker denounced Netanyahu for the failures surrounding the October 7 massacre and the ongoing inability to bring home the hostages, vowing the community “won’t forget”.

During a sitdown at which the Prime Minister was largely silent, freed hostages and the relatives of victims insisted that Netanyahu must end the war and bring all the captives home through an agreement and confronted him over his refusal to establish a state commission of inquiry into the events of October 7.

Nili Margalit, a nurse who was freed from captivity in November 2023, told the Prime Minister she promised five of the Nir Oz hostages she was held with that she would “do everything possible to get them out of there”.

She later told Channel 12 that she refused to shake the Prime Minister’s hand at the end of the meeting, explaining that she had apologised to Netanyahu for not doing so, but that “it hurts too much”.

“I saw, I was with them. It was possible to bring them back with a deal and therefore, I am here for my friends who are still not here,” she told Netanyahu.

“Ariel [Cunio] and David [Cunio] and Eitan [Horn] and Matan [Zangauker] and all the rest – we need to bring them back before it’s too late.

“I want to speak about responsibility. For responsibility, you need to direct your gaze, you need to see and therefore, this visit is important,” she continued. “But Mr Prime Minister, where is your responsibility?”

Margalit said just as it had been her basic duty to take care of those held with her in captivity, the state had a duty to protect and save the hostages.

“I know what hunger, desperation, daily psychological abuse and lack of hope are,” she stated. “I think the first step of taking responsibility is to establish a state commission of inquiry. The families of the fallen, the families of the murdered, the orphans, the widows, the bereaved siblings deserve it, to know what happened and is still happening in Israel over the past two years,” she said.

Yael Adar, whose son Tamir was murdered defending the kibbutz and his body taken to Gaza, urged the Prime Minister to demonstrate the same courage he had shown in the wars against Iran and Hezbollah in order to reach a deal. Just as he did not “eliminate the last of Hezbollah” or “the last of the Iranians” during the wars against them, she reasoned, “it needs to be the same here.”

“You know that when there is a need, you can go back there,” she said, implying that the military could return to fighting terrorists in Gaza after the hostages are released.

“And this is the critical week, when I expect to hear that Tamir returns in the coming month, because he is [one of the] last [in line], because he is an IDF soldier. And before him, all those alive will be returned,” she insisted to the Prime Minister.

While Netanyahu was seen listening quietly, the Kan public broadcaster reported that he also told residents: “From our point of view, there is an agreement, we are hoping to declare [the ceasefire] soon.”

Additionally, a video showed a warm meeting between Netanyahu and Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker and a harsh critic of the Prime Minister.

Zangauker, who was seen embracing the Prime Minister and his wife, has frequently accused Netanyahu of actively torpedoing potential deals to free her son and other hostages.

Netanyahu also met Matan’s girlfriend, Ilana Gritzewsky, who was freed in the November 2023 ceasefire. In a teary, heartfelt appeal, she urged the Prime Minister to bring all the hostages home, saying she wants “to be rehabilitated, to live my life with Matan”.

“I defended the country, I was a combat soldier and I will continue to defend the country, but one thing that can really bring back our honour is the return of the hostages and all our soldiers. My brother is a soldier, so I live with the fear that I’ll also bury him,” she stated.

Danny Elgarat, another government critic whose brother Itzik was murdered in captivity and whose body was returned in February during the last ceasefire, confronted the Prime Minister with a photo of Itzik.

Elgarat later told media outlets that Netanyahu didn’t know who he was.

“I told him, ‘Look at my brother in the eyes and tell him why you abandoned him.’ He looked, but in the biggest absurdity, the Prime Minister asked [government hostage pointman] Gal Hirsch who I was. He doesn’t know me,” Elgarat told the Ynet news site.

He added that Netanyahu did not visit his brother’s home.

Ofri Bibas, whose brother Yarden was released in February, told Ynet that Netanyahu’s visit “came too late”.

“There are two words I am still waiting to hear from him: ‘responsibility’ and ‘sorry’, but that was not the goal of the visit,” she said, accusing Netanyahu of touring the kibbutz due to political and personal interests.

Yarden’s wife Shiri and their small sons Ariel and Kfir were murdered in captivity. Their bodies were returned in February.

In a video message from the kibbutz shared by his office, Netanyahu expressed his “deep commitment” to return the hostages still held in Gaza and to help rebuild the community.

“You feel, deep in your soul, the magnitude of the pain, the depth of the sorrow, the trauma that struck an entire community – and still strikes it,” Netanyahu said, alongside his wife.

“I feel a deep commitment, first and foremost, to ensure the return of all our hostages, all of them. Twenty lives are still being held and there are still the fallen. We will bring everyone back,” Netanyahu continued.

“But also, [there is] a deep commitment to act here to rehabilitate this kibbutz and bring life back to its people. We will cut through the bureaucracy – and rebuild,” he vowed.

In her comments, Sara described meeting US-Israeli hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen, who was released during the previous ceasefire in February, and speaking about his three-year-old daughter.

“She and her seven-year-old sister and his wife held out inside the protected room. They held the door, put the young girl’s changing table – this sweet girl – against the door and this is how they were saved, with heroism and resourcefulness,” she said.

“We then heard the story of his mother, who was taken hostage and managed to escape and return to the kibbutz, which is another story about a courageous woman. I told him that he lives among heroic women. I think that alongside what the Prime Minister said, stories of devastation, the awful things that happened here, there being no words to describe the tragedy, there were stories of the astounding heroism of people, civilians, women and boys and girls. There was simply resourcefulness, bravery; it is impossible to describe where the strength came from. There were awful tragedies here.”

Opposition Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz said Netanyahu’s first visit to Nir Oz “is better late than never” and concurred with the need to form a state inquiry.

After visiting Nir Oz, Netanyahu and his wife also visited the nearby city of Ofakim, meeting with local victims of the October 7 onslaught, as well as with soldiers who fought off terrorists that day, the Prime Minister’s Office said.

The Netanyahus, accompanied by Ofakim mayor Itzik Danino, Deputy Minister Almog Cohen and Likud MK Boaz Bismuth, met local hero Rachel Edry, who calmly offered cookies to terrorists who invaded her home on October 7 and her son Evyatar. They also lit memorial candles and meet bereaved families.

“There were supreme acts of bravery here by men and women who showed up at the right moment,” Netanyahu said in remarks provided by his office. “I think the nation of Israel is showing immense mental strength, valour and bravery and a great striving for life in the face of those seeking to destroy us. Our willpower is stronger than theirs, our fighting power is stronger than theirs. And in the end, this spiritual power of ours is defeating them.”