At Knesset, Families of Hostages Demand Single Deal for All Hostages

By Aryeh Stern

​​Family members of the hostages held in Gaza addressed Monday’s meeting of the Internal Affairs and Environment Committee, chaired by MK Rabbi Yaakov Asher (United Torah Judaism).​

Etti, the aunt of Eitan Mor, who was kidnapped from Re’im, and a member of the Tikva Forum, said, “Thank you for letting us speak, it gives us strength. I am a member of the Tikva Forum, and I am relying on the State of Israel and the decision-makers not to take irresponsible action. We want the children at home now, but with national responsibility. My heart is in Gaza — half of it is underground, in concern for Eitan, and half of it is with my son who is sitting in a tank in Khan Yunis. We are asking all the decision-makers to make decisions with national responsibility. We can’t go to deals that endanger all Israel’s residents, we want the IDF to continue. Let the IDF win. Defeat them; we can do it. We have a cruel and tough enemy that wants to see us crawl, but you have to win the war and let them ask us to take back the hostages.”

Shimon Or, the brother of Yaron Or, whose son Avinatan was kidnapped to Gaza, said, “I am here on behalf of my twin brother. He is completely physically ill just from rumors about this deal, which someone may have floated as a trial balloon. We all want the hostages to come home safely, and that is the reason I’m here. If we’re talking about Hamas as a religious organization, there can be no negotiations or compromise with them, it’s all a means of achieving their goals. If we split up the process of returning the hostages as they want, we won’t get the rest of the hostages, and they’ll be murdered there instead. Hamas won’t let the deal go through unless it returns to power, and all the soldiers who were killed — their blood will be shed for nothing.

“I call upon the Prime Minister to agree only to a single deal that will bring everyone back, and from a position of strength, which will bring Hamas to its knees. My son, a Golani soldier, came back from Gaza and said to me, ‘We’re winning everywhere. We’ll be endangering all the hostages and the lives of the State of Israel’s citizens if we don’t go to one comprehensive deal,'” Shimon Or said.

Yizhar Lifshitz, son of Oded Lifshitz, who is being held in Gaza, said, “I disagree with the Tikva Forum, but I am also one hundred percent with them. We were hit in Nir Oz by Hamas, and our problem at the moment is the politics. I explain to everyone that since 1967 we have been fighting terrorism, and at present, as long as we are fighting and they are under pressure, they are killing hostages. Will the strategic goal be achieved if we fight for another week or another month, or should we rethink our course of action? Don’t forget about the hostages and the families, and don’t try to score points at our expense. You’re scoring points at the expense of people whose heart is in a bunker, and at the expense of people who were injured in [Re’im]. This is a Holocaust-like event, and we’re not optimistic.

“Success will be to rebuild Israeli society. My heart is with the soldiers’ families. Hamas has been defeated in terms of its battalions, but the idea will not be eradicated, apparently. Our families there will die of infections, pressure, psychological abuse, and more. We’re all waiting for Hamas’s answers, and I don’t care about Hamas. Regrettably, we created and raised a monster, and now we won’t resolve the situation at the expense of the hostages,” Lifshitz said.