Shahada, you are not worthy: words cannot be erased

Eyal Eshel, father of observation soldier Roni Eshel who fell at the Nahal Oz outpost on October 7, 2023, returns to a video published by Balad chairman Sami Abu Shahada three days after the massacre. Eshel claims that Abu Shahada did not condemn the massacre nor mention Hamas, but rather defined the events as a "significant strategic political event." He calls on the Supreme Court, which will discuss disqualifying Abu Shahada's candidacy, to examine his words in light of the facts.

Eyal Eshel, father of the late Roni Eshel, an observation soldier who fell at the Nahal Oz outpost on October 7, 2023, publishes a personal column in Israel Hayom ahead of the High Court hearing on disqualifying Balad chairman Sami Abu Shahada's candidacy for the Knesset. Eshel revisits a video Abu Shahada published on October 10, 2023, three days after the massacre, in which, according to him, he did not condemn Hamas nor mention the acts of murder, rape, and kidnapping, but rather defined the events as a "significant strategic political event" and directed criticism at Israel. Eshel writes that the test is human before political, and that Roni was not a "strategic event" but his 19-year-old daughter. He expresses doubt that Abu Shahada regrets his words, and calls on the judges to examine the evidence and the law while remembering the human beings. The column concludes with the statement: "Shahada, you are not worthy."