Dudi Zalmanovitch, who founded the headquarters of the abductees and the uncle of Omar Shem Tov, who is held captive by Hamas, asked on Monday to resign from the headquarters of the families of the abductees following criticism that he was "comfortable for Netanyahu."
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Last Saturday night we published for the first time about the immense anger of the families inside the abductees' headquarters. Many claims have been made that there is a closed clique of families who are always called to meetings with Netanyahu, knowing that they will be convenient for him and will not express blatant anger to him.
Yesterday, David Meidan, a former senior Mossad official and coordinator of POWs and MIAs under Shalit, and Yaakov Peri, former head of the Shin Bet, announced their choice to leave the abductees' headquarters: "Two days ago there was a meeting with a small number of families, there was not a single family from Kibbutz Be'eri, from Kfar Gaza, from Hulit, and my impression is that the headquarters or whoever manages it is arranging a comfortable bulletproof vest for Netanyahu," Meidan said.
The Families Headquarters for the Abducted and Missing, Photo: Gideon Markowitz
The one who was hurt by the remarks was Dudi Zalmanovitch, the initiator and founder of the Abductees' Headquarters and the uncle of Omar Shem Tov, who was abducted to Gaza, who announced in light of accusations leveled at him that he wishes to cease all the headquarters' activity at this stage.
"The return of the abducted and missing is the only task facing the thousands of volunteers at the Dear Families Headquarters, which was established jointly and voluntarily by Dudi Zalmanovitch, Ronen Tzur and Haim Rubinstein," the headquarters said. "Within 72 hours, we set up an operation that envelops the families of abductees and missing persons on every issue. From the beginning, we distanced any direct or indirect political context from the headquarters and from the families of the abductees who represent the entire people of Israel, and that will be the case in the future."
The families' meeting with Gal Hirsch, this week, photo: Spokesperson for the Families Headquarters
"Regarding the claims raised regarding the identity of the participants in the meeting with the prime minister, we clarify: The meeting was requested by attorney Dudi Zalmanovitch (whose family is among the families of the abductees and another first-degree family member survived the inferno and nine of her close friends were murdered nearby) and Ronen Tzur, on behalf of the families. The meeting was coordinated by my uncle and Ronen Tzur with various government officials."
"Apart from three staff members, the list of those present at the meeting (7 family members who were not at the previous meeting with the Prime Minister) was prepared by Haim Rubinstein, in cooperation with a team of families at headquarters, and included representatives from the Gaza envelope, the party and other areas."
Headquarters of the struggle for the return of the abductees. In the center, Mia's family there, photo: Gideon Markowitz
They also stressed: "No one from the families' headquarters had anything to do with determining the participants who participated on behalf of the prime minister. In addition, the initial request to Staff Spokesman Haim Rubinstein to summon family members to a meeting was made about an hour before the start of the meeting with the Prime Minister."
The headquarters added: "At the request of the headquarters management, Adv. Dudi Zalmanovitch agreed to fulfill a final commitment and speak regarding the efforts to return the abductees and missing persons at the world's largest lawyers' conference taking place in Paris, to which he will fly this afternoon at his own expense."
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