Knesset member compares hostages to convicted terrorists

MK Avigdor Liberman: ‘Ayman Odeh has once again shown that he is acting as a spokesperson for Hamas in the Knesset.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash-Ta’al) compared the three hostages released on Sunday to convicted terrorists freed from Israeli prisons as part of the ceasefire and hostage deal.

Odeh wrote on X, “I am relieved by the release of the hostages and prisoners. Both peoples deserve to be freed from the burden of occupation. We were all born to be free.”

Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Liberman criticized Odeh’s tweet and responded, “Ayman Odeh has once again shown that he is acting as a spokesperson for Hamas in the Knesset. Anyone who equates our hostages with brutal terrorists should be sent to Gaza to stand with them.”

On Sunday, three female hostages, Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher, and Emily Damari, were released in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners, including 69 women and 21 teenage boys.

According to the agreement, in the coming weeks, a total of 33 prisoners, mainly women, men over 50, and ill hostages, will be released in exchange for 737 male and female Palestinian prisoners, many of whom have been convicted of serious crimes including murder.

In later phases of the agreement, the remaining 64 hostages will be released, both living and dead, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

This isn’t the first time Odeh has compared Israeli civilians to Palestinian terrorists.

In 2022, following a terrorist shooting spree that left five people dead in Bnei Brak, Odeh blamed the attack on Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria.

“Five civilians were killed today, each of them a world in its entirety. They are added to the 51 Palestinians killed since the beginning of the year, each one a world in its own right. The heart is torn in the face of the bereavement and loss of all families.”

In a tweet that followed, he stated: “I strongly oppose any harm to civilians, Palestinians or Israelis, and any harm to innocent people. It is time to end the source of hatred and that is the damned occupation, and to establish peace that will bring security and a normative life to both peoples.”