This morning, Israel released 55 Palestinians that it had captured in Gaza and imprisoned in Israel. One of those was Mohammed Abu Selmia, the director of the Al Shifa Hospital, raided and destroyed by Israeli forces last November and raided again the following March. In video comments aired by Palestinian media following his release, Abu Selmia accused Israeli authorities of mistreating Palestinian detainees, saying they “are subjected to daily physical and psychological humiliation,” reported AP. Israeli authorities have denied such allegations.
The pro-genocide faction in Israel has gone berserk over Abu Selmia’s release, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir claiming that the decision to free the director of Shifa Hospital “along with dozens of terrorists” is “security recklessness,” reported the Times of Israel. “It’s time the prime minister stops [Defense Minister Yoav] Gallant and the Shin Bet chief from independent policies contradicting the positions of the cabinet.”
According to another report in the Times of Israel, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli wrote in a Whatsapp group for ministers: “Why is this man, in whose hospital hostages were murdered and a Hamas command center operated, being released?” Settlements Minister Orit Strock chimed in: “It is unthinkable to do such a thing without a cabinet meeting. I’m seriously asking, under what authority [was this done]?” And Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi added: “Israel needs new security leadership, the sooner the better.”
Benny Gantz, who took his National Unity party out of Netanyahu’s war cabinet and the government on June 9, resorted to political posturing. “A government that frees those who sheltered the murderers of October 7 and helped to hide our hostages made a moral and ethical operational error and thus is not fit to lead our existential war and needs to go home,” he declared in a statement, adding that “whoever made the decision lacked judgment and should be dismissed today.”
Despite these wild statements, even the Jerusalem Post admits that “there was never any concrete proof publicly produced that Abu Salmiya was directly involved” in the alleged crimes of Hamas at the hospital. The Post even notes when the IDF re-invaded the hospital in March, Abu Salmiya had been in detention for several months and couldn’t be held responsible for Hamas activities on the hospital grounds between November and March.
