Mother Tells CNN Israeli Officials Refused to Watch Hamas Video of Daughter Being Kidnapped So They Could ‘Sleep OK at Night’

Dr. Ayelet Levy Shachar, the mother of one of the hostages currently held by Hamas, told CNN this week that some members of the Israeli government refused to watch a disturbing video of her daughter and others being kidnapped because they wanted to “sleep ok at night.”

The families of multiple hostages released video this week that includes Shachar’s daughter, Naama Levy, and other women, all bloodied, being zip-tied and held by members of Hamas who are threatening to kill them. Levy at one point says she has “friends in Palestine.” Levy’s mother said her daughter is part of an Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative.

The mother told CNN’s Bianna Golodryga that families are “frustrated” with the Israeli government, feeling there has not been enough movement on the hostage front. Levy, 19, was taken from her military base and, soldiers despite their age and mandatory conscription in Israel, have not been part of negotiations to release hostages so far.

“We don’t feel like the negotiations are being mobilized as they should be in order to bring them back,” she said, arguing Israeli officials have not treated the hostages as a “top priority.”

Hundreds were kidnapped by Hamas in an Oct. 7 attack on Israel where more than 1,000 were killed. Israel has since leveled much of Gaza through strikes in an effort to eliminate the terror group.

“What we see

in that video represents what has been going on since [Oct. 7] for them,” Scachar said about her daughter and the other hostages.

During the video, taken by body cams on Hamas members, one terrorist can be heard saying, “Here are the girls who can get pregnant.”

Shachar said there is a great deal of concern about the potential sexual violence kidnapped women could be facing in captivity.

She said members of the Israeli government were asked to watch the video of the young women being kidnapped, but some refused.

“The ministers and members of the government were asked to watch a version of this video in their meetings, and some of them refused and said, ‘we want to sleep OK at night, so we don’t want to watch this now,’” she said. “So if this is the reaction when their duty is to watch all of these materials of Oct. 7 and everything from that point on, this is their job so they can make correct decisions.”

Watch above CNN.