Eyal Ashel, father of late observer Roni Ashel who fell at the Nahal Oz outpost on October 7, confronted Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during a cornerstone-laying ceremony for 1,000 new homes in Kibbutz Ein HaShlosha. Ashel told him that ‘hostages came back in coffins because you voted against it,’ and when Smotrich replied ‘I love you,’ Ashel said: ‘If you loved me you would have protected Roni, Roni burned in the command center.’ The bereaved father added that ‘there will be no rebuilding here until there is a state commission of inquiry.’
