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Members“I became the state”: Death threats, hostages, and the price of holding the line

Israel Today correspondent Yossi Aloni speaks with Israeli government hostage coordinator Gal Hirsch on the vitriol aimed at him as he fought to get everyone out of Gaza.

Gal Hirsch, Hostage and Missing Persons Coordinator in the Prime Minister's Office. Photo: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90
Gal Hirsch, Hostage and Missing Persons Coordinator in the Prime Minister's Office. Photo: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90

Major General (res.) Gal Hirsch has been at the center of the storm for the past two years and four months. He and his family received death threats in the style of: “We will put you before a firing squad.” His wife was subjected to sexual harassment. People demonstrated outside his house with megaphones, calling on all neighbors to boycott him and his family.

One day, he received a threatening phone call saying they were on their way to his home in Rosh HaAyin to murder his wife Donna and his daughters. Hirsch alerted the authorities, immediately left the situation room where he was, and raced home armed.

In these two years, he paid a high personal price. Friends cut off contact with him—solely because he is subordinate to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and allegedly “abandoned the hostages.” Throughout this entire time, he did not break, but he admits it was harder than one can imagine.

Today, after the return of all hostages, dead and alive, Hirsch is not thinking of resigning. He continues to...

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