Hostage families to Netanyahu: Don’t come to Washington without a hostage deal
From left, hostage family members Orna Neutra, Liz Hirsh Naftali and Jonathan Dekel-Chen are shown outside the White House. Photo by Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
By Beth Harpaz July 16, 2024
Many hostage families say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s July 24 speech to a joint session of Congress in Washington is pointless as long as Hamas is still holding their loved ones captive.
“I would have preferred that he only be invited to Congress after the deal was done,” Jonathan Dekel-Chen said in a phone call from Israel. “That would be, for me, a proper victory lap in a way that would be justified. I don’t really understand the reason for inviting him now.”
Dekel-Chen’s son Sagui, 35, is one of five American hostages held by Hamas and presumed to be alive. Another three American hostages held by Hamas have been declared dead. In total, Hamas still holds 120 kidnap victims, 43 of whom are believed to be deceased.
Anger and tears in Tel Aviv
At an angry, tearful news conference in Tel Aviv Tuesday, Israeli families echoed Dekel-Chen’s criticism of Netanyahu’s scheduled visit and demanded a meeting with the prime minister.
“Prime Minister Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, I repeat and ask you again to meet with us before you depart for the Congress,” Orly Gilboa, whose 19-year-old daughter Daniela is among the captives, said at the press conference. “I will repeat and ask that if you do choose to give the speech, it will be a speech declaring an immediate hostage deal which will bring back the power, the joy, the hope for the state of Israel, and bring back my Daniela.”
Representatives of the Israeli government in New York acknowledged a request for comment on the families’ concerns, but did not provide one.
Speaking at the Tel Aviv news conference, Shlomi Berger, whose 19-year-old daughter, Agam, remains captive, begged Netanyahu to “sign a deal before you go to Washington. This is a critical time for the state of Israel. You have to be here to make sure the deal is signed.”
US families also want a Netanyahu meeting
Liz Hirsh Naftali, who lives in LA and whose 4-year-old grand-niece, Abigail Mor Edan, was held hostage by Hamas for 50 days after her parents were murdered on Oct. 7, said in a phone interview that the American families have requested a meeting with Netanyahu while he is in Washington: “He is coming to American soil and he needs to meet with the American families.”
Hirsh Naftali said the American families have all received invitations to attend Netanyahu’s speech in Congress. “He better have an answer as to how he’s going to get the American hostages out — and how he’s going to get all the hostages out,” she said. “If he comes here without a deal and he comes here without an explanation or without some sort of signature on a deal that brings home our loved ones, there is no real reason for him to come to America.”
Hirsh Naftali’s great-niece is being raised, along with her orphaned brother and sister, by their aunt and uncle. The couple has another three children of their own in addition to Abigail and her siblings.
In addition to Dekel-Chen’s son Sagui, the other American hostages held by Hamas are Edan Alexander, Keith Siegal, Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Omer Neutra. The deceased Americans whose bodies are held by Hamas are Itay Chen and a married couple, Gadi Haggai and Judi Weinstein Haggai.
Hirsh Naftali and Dekel-Chen both praised the Biden administration for their advocacy and support, and for making high-level officials repeatedly available for meetings. Dekel-Chen said U.S. officials had been “extraordinarily forthcoming,” providing “wall to wall support and accessibility.” In contrast, he said, Netanyahu has “been unresponsive, really unsympathetic and inaccessible to hostage families.”
Dekel-Chen plans to fly to Washington to hear Netanyahu’s speech and for meetings with other officials, but he will not be among those flying to the U.S. on the prime minister’s plane, according to Jewish Insider. Meanwhile, Ynet reported that Noa Argamani, a hostage who was rescued in June, will accompany Netanyahu to Washington, along with her father and her partner’s mother. Other hostage families are urging Argamani not to join the prime minister, The Times of Israel reported, arguing that he is using her to bolster his image amid criticism of his failure to free the hostages.
A US hostage’s parents speak at the RNC
Ronen and Orna Neutra, whose Long Island-born son Omer was serving as an IDF tank commander when he was kidnapped, spoke at the Republican National Convention Wednesday night. They said by email that former President Donald Trump had “called us after Omer was taken hostage. We appreciated that call, and we are grateful that our country’s leaders on both sides of the aisle are committed to freeing the hostages.”
Their speech at the RNC urged leaders and citizens of both parties to do everything in their power to demand the release of their fellow Americans and all the hostages left behind. They led the crowd in a chant of “Bring them home!”
The Neutras also plan to attend Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, where they’d like to see him “announce that the deal to release all the hostages including our son Omer has been signed and that there is a clear timeline for their return. If he is unable to make this announcement yet, we expect him to keep focused on the hostages as the most urgent priority.”
The blame lies with Hamas
While taking Netanyahu to task for failing to prioritize the hostages’ release over military objectives, family representatives also took pains to place blame on Hamas.
“We can all have our criticisms of the Israeli government and Israeli military, but it’s almost moot when we consider the basic fact that this never had to happen in the first place, and certainly it should not have gone on this long, with so much suffering, had this savage terrorist organization simply given the hostages back,” Dekel-Chen said.
Michael Levy, whose brother Or Levy is among the hostages, said in a phone call that he will fly in from Israel to attend Netanyahu’s speech. His brother’s 3-year-old son is being raised by grandparents; the boy’s mother, Eynav, was murdered at the Nova music festival.
Levy was less overtly critical of Netanyahu than some of the other families. “This is not political in any way,” he said. “It is not against Prime Minister Netanyahu. It’s not against the government. We all want the same thing. We want our loved ones back. There’s nothing more important to a 3-year-old boy than getting back the only parent he has left.”
CORRECTION: This version has been updated to show that Agam is Shlomi Berger’s daughter.
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