Rabbi Gafni: We Support Any Initiative That Will Help Bring the Hostages Home

By Aryeh Stern

Members of bereaved families and families of hostages held in Gaza spoke at the meeting of the Finance Committee on Monday.

Vered Ansbacher, sister of the late Maj. Yehuda Cohen, a company commander in Sayeret Givati who fell in Gaza close to two months ago, said, “We have come on behalf of the Heroism Forum, which wants to support and strengthen the IDF. Every morning, like the rest of the people of Israel, I wake up and read the new names of fallen soldiers that have been released for publication. I try to take a minute to understand who the other people are whose world has been destroyed, and pay my respects for one moment. On one hand it’s very great pain, and you think, how much more pain is it possible to bear, but on the other, I have the side that reminds me what the purpose is. In the speech he gave upon assuming his post, Yehuda spoke in this vein.”

Tehila Cohen, mother of the late Maj. Yehuda Cohen, said, “With all the difficulty and the pain, we have great pride for the privilege that has fallen to our lot. Yehuda was named for his father’s grandfather, who perished in Auschwitz. Yehuda was also strongly connected to the history and heritage. He also visited Poland, and wrote that he was part of the succession of generations. It is from this strong place that we want to be uplifted, to rise above the hardship and to see the Divine plan, for us to overcome this hardship. I hope that we can grow from this as a society and as a nation.”

Itzik Fitoussi said, “My son Yishai fell in Nachal Oz. He served in the 13th Battalion in the Golani Brigade. Years ago we were uprooted from our home in Gush Katif, and that is where our son fought and fell. I want to talk about the fighting spirit. Yishai and his friends were on the Namer [APC], they were the first force that fought at the fence, and they continued to fight until they received a call to go to Nachal Oz and save the post. There was fighting spirit and they strived to engage the enemy, even though the APC was hit and locked on them. They extricated themselves and strived to engage, few against many, and that was the fighting spirit.

“The mission was not complete since Operation Protective Edge. Hadar Goldin is still there, and he was supposed to be my brother-in-law. One thing will bring them back, and that is to uproot Hamas completely and absolutely, so that we don’t return to the same situation in a few years. So we need the people to be united, from all ends of the spectrum. This is the fighting spirit that must continue, it cannot be weakened, we can’t refrain from completing the mission,” he said.

Finance Committee Chair MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) said, “The entire committee sends its condolences to you and to all the bereaved families. We are with you. We are in favor of bringing back all the hostages, which is also immense pain and the state has to do it.”

Representatives of the hostages’ families also addressed the committee. Gilad Korngold, father of Tal Shoham, said, “Tal is 38 years old. He has been held in Gaza for the past 80 days. Eleven of my family members were in Be’eri, three were murdered; his children and my daughter-in-law returned, but Tal remained in Gaza. I still live in the Gaza perimeter region. We, all of the families, support the IDF, we have nothing against the soldiers and the officers. I’m very familiar both with the Gaza perimeter region and with Gaza. We have to stop and free the 136 unfortunates. We hear horrific stories from there; there are pregnant women, there are people with infections, and women should certainly be taken out. The IDF bombs and the houses are blown up in the air. It’s 12 kilometers, yesterday the IDF apparently made a mistake and killed 70 Palestinians. They won’t give us much more time, we’re advancing into an area of 2.5 million residents. Our family lost an officer in Operation Protective Edge. Every knock on the door turns our world upside down. Whoever says that time heals is a liar.

“The Hamas members can be killed and destroyed, but Hamas is everywhere. It’s an idea. It’s in the U.S. and in Europe. We can demolish the tunnels and kill [Yahya] Sinwar, but there are 200 worse psychopaths than him. Instead of the IDF serving as the buffer between us and them, we served as the buffer for the army. We know that many of the hostages aren’t alive. Redemption of captives is the first thing. I met with Harav Zilberstein, and he wept. I asked whether it was true about the importance of pidyon shevuyim, and he told me that it was of the first order, it’s a primary [precept] of Yahadut.

“In six phases, the state brought back close to 100 unfortunate people, including my grandchildren. My granddaughter, three and a half years old, counts to 10 in Arabic. There are people who returned quite disabled. If that is the case, let’s stop, let’s take a break. I was a young soldier, and I remember that we went into Lebanon and they threw rice at us. Every day we have dead soldiers, we’re sinking into the soil of Gaza. I’m not saying that Hamas doesn’t have to be dealt with, but first we have to get out the people who are still alive, and regrettably I don’t know in what shape they’ll come back to us. I am doing everything possible, I met with the Qataris, including with the ambassador in Germany, and he told us everything. We came back and we were sure that there was a deal, but it fell apart, apparently not because of us. On Friday we met with the Qataris in Greece, and there’s a deal [on the table], we just need a bit more flexibility. The Gaza perimeter is burnt, people won’t come back, but they also won’t come back if the hostages aren’t returned. First of all, redemption of captives, and I mean everyone. We simply have to act now. I have nothing against the war, but this has to be dealt with, otherwise they will come back in caskets or will turn into Ron Arad, and no one wants that to happen,” said Korngold.

Rabbi Gafni said, “The issue of redemption of captives is the main issue. The Government and the Political-Security Cabinet are making proposals; we all support any initiative that will be submitted for bringing back the hostages. We support it because of the issue of pikuach nefesh and pidyon shevuyim.”​