Families of hostages being held in captivity since the October 7 massacre will travel to Washington on Sunday in order to protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and in support of a hostage deal. Among other actions, they will distribute to US congresspeople a book they created called Dark Legacy: The Abandonment of October 7th Hostages, whose text The Jerusalem Post has obtained in full.
The book criticizes what it argues is Netanyahu’s mishandling of hostage negotiations and the need to secure an immediate hostage agreement. It includes short essays by released hostages and family members of hostages who are still in captivity, as well as by dozens of key figures in Israeli society, including former senior intelligence and security officials, doctors and medical professionals, academics, journalists, and artists.
Among these contributors are former Mossad director Tamir Pardo, former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Yuval Diskin, and former defense minister Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon.
The essays are extremely critical of the prime minister. The first one, for example, is by Carmit Palty Katzir. She is the sister of Elad Katzir, who was murdered in captivity, the daughter of Hanna Katzir, who was released after 49 days in captivity, and the child of Rami Katzir, who was murdered in his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. Her essay is written in the style of a personal letter addressed to Netanyahu.
“I have no illusions that you will read this letter, for correspondence from citizens is rarely your preferred genre – unless, of course, it’s a thank-you note coupled with a photo opportunity for your press relations team. Perhaps you think I should be extending my gratitude. After all, I, the privileged one, have had two family members returned to me: A mother, barely alive, from Gaza, and a brother in a coffin. My father was brutally murdered in his shelter in Nir Oz during that dreadful event, to which you religiously avoid having your name attached,” she wrote.
“Initially, I thought perhaps our priorities differed,” Palty Katzir articulated at the conclusion of her essay.
“From the first day, I cried out, insisting that rescuing the hostages must come before everything. But I now understand that reality is far more dreadful. You care nothing for the hostages. There are no priorities and there are no ethical codes. To you, only one sacred value remains: maintaining your position as Mr. Prime Minister,” she wrote.
“Therefore, you refuse to end the war. Therefore, you thwart every deal to free the hostages, time and time again. I want you to know that the Israeli public sees this. This is how history will remember you – as the only prime minister who knowingly sacrificed his citizens. You are unworthy of us. You were unworthy of my brother’s trust – a brother who lived by his principles, who loved and worked the land of this country.”
Additional notable essays in the book
Another notable essay was by Nili Margalit, a nurse who was kidnapped to Gaza from her home in Nir Oz and released from captivity after 55 days, and whose father, Eliyahu “Churchill” Margalit, was murdered in the kibbutz and his body was taken to Gaza.
“It is currently summer in Israel and the temperatures are extremely high. Think about how, walking down the street in July and August, people say to one another: It’s hot as hell here, or: Oh, how is life even bearable in this heat? Now imagine the hostages in the tunnels. As hot as it is for you, for them it is a million times hotter,” Margalit wrote.
“I know because I’ve been there. It is steaming hot. Humid. Disgusting. The air is foul. It is hard to breathe,” she continued.
“I want to tell you about thirst in the tunnels. There is no cold water there, not even clean water. You only get several sips a day of salty water,” she wrote.
“Altogether, 55 days. I remember refusing to believe a government could abandon its citizens like this. Yes, I didn’t vote for the right-wing bloc, but still, how is it possible that I am stranded in Gaza? Forget about me – but the elderly? The sick? The children? How do you leave them behind?” Margalit wrote.
Other contributors to the book include Tami Arad, peace activist Gershon Baskin, peace activist Shimshon Liebman, Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Amal Asad, historian Prof. Anita Shapira, author Zeruya Shalev, author Ilan Megged, playwright Yehoshua Sobol, author Haim Be’er, comedian Orna Banai, satirist Ephraim Sidon, playwright Beni Barbash, Prof. Uzi Beller, Prof. Asa Kasher, and many other prominent figures.
Some of the figures, including Megged and Beller, were personal friends of Netanyahu in the past, and others worked for him or alongside him during their careers. The common denominator was the claim that the prime minister was putting his political survival ahead of his care for the hostages.
The book, which was published in English and Hebrew, was crowdfunded and published by Forum for Life: Saving Israeli Hostages, a group of more than 40 hostage families who raised close to $260,000 as part of their ongoing fight to pressure Netanyahu into doing whatever it takes to bring the remaining hostages home.