Washington, DC – Aviva Siegel, who was released from Hamas captivity in November after 51 days, sat at the center of the dais before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday morning during a roundtable for the American hostage families, recounting her experience in the tunnels under Gaza and pleading with members to help secure the deal to bring home her husband Keith and the remaining hostages.
“I saw everything, I felt everything,” Siegel, who is 63-years-old, testified. Aviva said the remaining hostages cannot be allowed to go through one more day like she went through, where she was starving, thirsty and not allowed to stand up.
Aviva, who was taken hostage with Keith, said she prayed to die before her husband of 43 years. “I didn’t want to see him dead,” she told the Committee.
Aviva testified seeing the girls she was held with come back from being beaten and they were forced to shower with the door open. She hid herself when she had to cry because crying was not allowed.
“It’s so difficult to think about what more we were going to go through and what the girls are going through. Now I’m here thinking about Keith, and the girls, and it’s too much for me to handle,” Aviva said. “Because I know where they are, and I know who they are with.”
The deal is on the table, Aviva pleaded, saying it’s unknown what will happen in the future.“If it won’t stop today, it might get bigger and bigger,” she added. “We need a deal as soon as possible. I do not want Keith or the other hostages dead.”
Committee Chairman Michael McCaul will likely be among the members of Congress greeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Capitol on Wednesday, his office told The Jerusalem Post, where he may get the opportunity to briefly speak with the prime minister.
Urging Congress to push Netanyahu for deal
Ranking Committee Member Gregory Meeks (D-NY) is also trying to secure a meeting with Netanyahu.McCaul, who represents Texas, asked the families at the roundtable for the message he should personally deliver to Netanyahu.
Jonathan Polin, the father of 23-year-old hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, likened the current moment to a triage situation in a hospital and said McCaul needs to convey to Netanyahu that while there are credible, existential threats to the state of Israel, there are 120 hostages who must be dealt with first.
“The single event that if it happened right now to be most influential on releasing pressure across all fronts in the region, is bringing home the hostages,” Polin said. “It will calm down war with Hezbollah, it will calm down Gaza and it will allow the region to deal with the legit, credible, big threats in a more controlled manner.”
Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of 35-year-old hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen, said any true friend of Israel must pressure Netanyahu to finish the deal now.
“Israel needs you right now. Israel needs you to help end this madness,” Dekel-Chen said to the Committee members, particularly those who have a good relationship with Netanyahu. “Now’s the time. Waiting more is just a death sentence.”
Daniel Neutra, the 20-year-old brother of 22-year-old hostage Omer Neutra, told the Committee about what he experienced on October 7, finding out in his college dorm room that his beloved older brother hadn’t been heard from since the night before.
Daniel, and his parents Orna and Ronen, have traveled the world in the almost 10 months since advocating on behalf of Omer’s release.
“Yesterday, there were two more hostages that died in captivity after October 7. That is not sustainable,” Daniel said. “Each day is more dangerous and exhausting.”
Daniel was among the family members who met with Netanyahu on Monday night.
The urgency of the matter did not seem to resonate, Daniel said of the prime minister.
“And he did not answer when we asked him, why is he sending negotiators to keep the process going on Thursday, instead of days ago?” Daniel said.
Ronen said members of Congress have a unique opportunity to speak to Netanyahu now to pressure him when Hamas seems to be on their knees.
“Accept the deal. When our loved ones are home, then when the time comes, eliminate and deal with the real head of the octopus, which is Iran,” Ronen said.
Politicians at some point have to be leaders, Dekel-Chen added, asking the members of Congress before him to act as leaders, as well as Netanyahu.
Aviva told the Post at the conclusion of the roundtable that the hostages and their families needed the Americans to tell Netanyahu what to do.
“Americans should feel that they’re strong enough to tell Bibi what to do because he’s going to lose us,” she said. “It just doesn’t seem right that someone like Bibi Netanyahu can decide to bring them back.”
Aviva said she believes the members of Congress who say they’ll take the families’ messages directly to Netanyahu.“But I know that Bibi’s very strong, and I don’t know how much he will listen to anybody,” she said. “And that’s what I’m scared of.”