Sara Netanyahu says government not responsible for massacre at Re'im in leaked recording

A recording in which Sara Netanyahu could be heard saying the government should not be held responsible for the massacre at Re'im in leaked by N12 on Tuesday. 

The recording was of a meeting in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara met with representatives of the hostages' families.

According to N12, the meeting happened before the murder of six hostages on September 1.

In the recording, the prime minister and his wife could be heard saying the government shouldn't be held responsible for the massacre. “There shouldn't have been a party in Re'im,” she could be heard saying, adding, “I don't understand who approved the party. If someone says - 'It's the government's responsibility’ - then no, the government didn't know."

With regard to a hostage deal, the prime minister could be heard telling the families that a hostage deal was being delayed because Israel and Hamas could not agree on a number of hostages to release, which led a participant to say they’d be “leaving [the meeting] worried about what I just heard.”

The prime minister's wife then told the participants that rather than be worried about the meeting, they should be worried about being in a "war of annihilation."

“We didn't choose our neighborhood, so to speak,” she could be heard saying.

The families’ response

N12 reported that several family members of hostages who were present for the meeting felt that prime minister Netanyahu gambled with their loved ones’ lives and labeled Sara "Mrs. Abandonment."

“The military pressure led to their murder in captivity," one family member said.

Ofri Bibas-Levy, sister of Yarden Bibas, who is still in Hamas captivity along with his wife Shiri and their children Ariel and Kfir, told N12, "As far as we know, her level of involvement in her husband's work makes Sarah Netanyahu a partner in the failure, Mrs. Abandonment. As someone who works as a child psychologist, I would expect her to voice her opinion strongly and sharply regarding Ariel and Kfir, the children still in Gaza, and not continue to abandon them there."

Ayala Metzger, daughter-in-law of Yoram Metzger, who was murdered in Hamas captivity, also said, according to N12, "Mrs. Abandonment, Sarah Netanyahu [...] until all the hostages return and you take full responsibility for the biggest failure in Israel's history - we have nothing to talk about with you and your husband."

According to N12, Sara Netanyahu responded to the recording by saying, “The attempt to take a few sentences from a three-hour meeting and turn them into the whole picture is manipulative and misses the facts.”