The families of the American hostages gathered for their first joint public media event on Wednesday morning at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, since the IDF found American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s body in a tunnel under Rafah along with the bodies of five other hostages.
The absence of Hersh’s parents, Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin, who had become stalwarts and staples of the movement to bring the hostages home, was palpable from the room.
Hersh’s funeral was held in Israel, where his parents remained to observe Sloshim.
“I’m here for Jon and Rachel. They’re not with us,” released hostage Aviva Siegel told the Press Club. “They just lost their son in such a brutal way. The six hostages came home in conditions that aren’t acceptable.”
Aviva’s husband, Keith, remains hostage in Gaza.
Ruby Chen, father of 19-year-old hostage Itay Chen, who was confirmed dead in March, described waiting by the phone earlier this month as reports of the IDF finding hostage bodies began to swirl in the media.
“We waited by the phone until about 3 a.m. until the families that were notified got notified,” Chen said. “And we saw on the television the names of those loved ones, one of them being an American family.”
The families will be participating in another sweep of meetings this week in Washington with lawmakers and senior administration officials; Chen said his expectations for this trip through the Capitol were low.
“We do not foresee any updates to dialogue between the bodies to reach a deal,” he said.
As Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of 35-year-old hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen told reporters, he’s lost track of how many times he and the other families have come to Washington since October 7 to advocate for a deal.
“Something’s got to give,” Dekel-Chen said of the negotiations.
For weeks, if not months, senior IDF intelligence officials have been saying there is nothing to be gained by incremental military advances that would justify the sacrifice of more lives, said Dekel-Chen, adding, “One can’t be clearer than that.”
Adi Alexander, father of 19-year-old hostage Edan Alexander, called on Biden to tell Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to no longer delay the deal and for Egypt and Qatar to send the same message to Hamas.
“Now, when we approach a year mark of October 7, Biden must make it clear that this time, it cannot fail,” Alexander said.
The Defense Minister
Ronen Neutra, the father of 23-year-old hostage Omer Neutra, criticized Netanyahu over reports of his desire to replace his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant with New Hope-United Right chairman Gideon Sa’ar.
“Netanyahu must stick to Jewish and Israeli values of not leaving anyone behind and making sure that every life is precious,” Neutra said.
“He has to remember those values as he’s making decisions. And the time is now.”
Neutra said that Wednesday’s media engagement was tough without Rachel and Jon, who, while in mourning, continue to work in Israel for the release of the remaining hostages.
“I’m hoping they’ll have the strength to continue and join us,” Neutra said. “I think we need them to continue to speak up. I’m expecting them to reunite with us.”