Former Gaza hostage Rom Braslavski has faced intense online attacks after he criticized the decision to choose Brig.-Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch to light a torch at the Independence Day ceremony on Mount Herzl.
Braslavski wrote on social media that the choice of Hirsch is “a slap in the face” to him, his parents, and other hostage families.
According to him, Hirsch “is only playing politics” and did not even contact him after he returned home from Hamas captivity. His criticism joined the anger also expressed by hostage families and relatives of murder victims following the decision.
Shortly after publishing his remarks, Braslavski became the target of an online attack from right-wing social media users.
Dozens of abusive messages were sent to him, including curses, humiliation, and accusations. Among other things, he was told to “shut his mouth,” that he is “ungrateful,” and that he received money from donations and therefore has no right to criticize.
Other users claimed that he should “be thankful they brought him back,” and questioned who he is to oppose Hirsch’s selection.
Braslavski extends gesture of kindness to Arab workers
At the same time as the online attacks against him, Braslavski shared a different, personal moment on social media that hit hard. He shared that outside his home, he saw older Arab workers, around 50 years old, working long hours in the heat. “I couldn’t stand seeing older people working like that,” he wrote.
He said he went to buy them cold drinks and a pack of cigarettes, and then approached them and spoke with them in Arabic.
According to Braslavski, the workers were very surprised by his act and by his spoken Arabic, especially given that he wears a kippah. “I don’t understand why helping someone else has become something unusual,” he wrote. “Why should an older Arab man be shocked that a young Jewish man helps him?”
Braslavski added that even though he was kidnapped by Arab terrorists, he refuses to give up humanity.
"To say that I love them? No," he wrote, "but we must leave humanity in all this chaos."
He added that he did not tell the workers who he was, and concluded with the message: "I wish Jews to be humane towards Jews first of all, and for Arabs not to see Jews as enemies."