Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called it a”grave mistake” to compare the suffering of the three released hostages who were freed from Hamas captivity on Saturday to the victims of the Holocaust in a subsequent X/Twitter post.
His comments came after the release of three Israeli hostages, Or Levy, Eli (Eliyahu) Sharabi, and Ohad Ben Am, who are said to be in dire condition.
The three appear frail and malnourished upon being freed after 491 days captive in Gaza, with early estimates suggesting they lost 30% of their body weight.
“The suffering of our hostages in Hamas’ brutal captivity is heartbreaking,” Smotrich wrote. “But comparisons to the Holocaust are a grave mistake,” he added.
He added that “there was only one Holocaust, and nothing, no matter how terrible, compares to it.”
Additionally, Smotirch questioned those who compare Hamas’s abuse of the hostages to the Holocaust in his post, asking if they “would sign a deal with Hitler that keeps the Nazis in power and allows them to prepare the next Holocaust?”
Smotrich used this as a comparison point for signing a deal with Hamas that would allow the terror group to stay in power in Gaza, potentially leading to another October 7.Â
“Aside from the importance of returning all the hostages, Hamas and everyone and everything connected to it in the Gaza Strip and outside must be destroyed and wiped off the face of the earth. That way, there will not be a single person on earth who would think of kidnapping Jews and treating them this way again,” he concluded.
Nazi comparisons
However, social media users left a community note on the post saying that Smotrich had, in the past, compared Palestinian terror to Nazism, thus implying his possible belief in an existing connection between Israel’s current state and the Holocaust.
In April 2024, following the murder of 14-year-old shepherd Binyamin Achimair, Smotrich posted on X, “We are dealing with Nazis. Nazis in Gaza and Nazis in Judea and Samaria.”
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