LAST UPDATE | 24 Jul
Hannah McCarthy sat down with the families of hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October last. Some families are divided over Netanyahu’s handling of the war and hostage negotiations since their loved ones were taken.
As the Israeli leader meets Joe Biden and others and prepares for an address to US Congress today, many are hoping that some deal can be reached to release hostages, while others believe Netanyahu has no real interest in securing their freedom, for political reasons…
AT THE WEEKLY hostage rally in Jerusalem on Saturday, thousands of protestors marched to Paris Square beside the home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu where they called for an immediate hostage deal.
“Only an end to the war will bring the hostages home,” says Mai Alvini-Peri, whose grandfather Haim Peri was abducted by Hamas from Nir Oz kibbutz on 7 October and confirmed dead by the Israel Defence Forces in June.
“An end to the war will also bring an end to the [current Israeli] government,” he said. “So you all can understand why this war is continuing so long, and why there still isn’t a hostage deal.”
Many of the relatives of the hostages are furious that Netanyahu has travelled to address the US Congress, at the invitation of the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson, while the war in Gaza still rages and hostages remain in captivity. Some marchers on Saturday held a banner with “No flight without a deal” printed on it.
Other relatives have taken a different approach and decided to join Netanyahu on his visit to Washington, DC. Last week, I sat down with Michael Levy who is part of the official delegation accompanying Netanyahu.
Levy’s brother Or, 33, was taken captive by Hamas after his wife Einav, 32, was murdered while hiding at a bomb shelter near the Nova Festival on 7 October. “The only thing that we know is that Or was taken alive and that he wasn’t injured. We saw it in the video that was released about three weeks ago. We have no reason to believe anything different. “
The couple’s only son, Almog is now 3-years-old. “Most of the time he will look happy but he misses them all the time,” says Levy at his home outside of Tel Aviv.
“You cannot mention the words mom and dad next to him because he can cry. When he took him to the beach, he asked about his parents and where they were because they used to take him to the beach all the time, and he knows that his mom won’t come back.”
Levy says there are differences in how the hostage families are approaching lobbying for a deal to return their loved ones. “There’s a saying in Israel that when you have two Israelis, you will have three different opinions. There are 20 [hostage] families and every family sees a bit differently,”says Levy.
“I don’t know what’s the right way to get the hostages back at the end of day. We all have the same goal: we need them back. There’s no playbook on what should be done or what shouldn’t be done, and the way I see it is that everything helps.
“Some families think that if they support Netanyahu specifically, it will help. Other families think that if they say things against him, it will help. Honestly, I don’t know what’s the right thing to do. I’m trying to stay somewhere in the middle,” he says.
“A lot of meaningful meetings are going to be happening at Congress when Prime Minister Netanyahu is speaking, so I guess it will make some noise and I hope that the noise will get us to a deal soon — that’s the only thing we want from him [Netanyahu], from the government, from the world.”
Since the war began, families of the hostages have taken part in numerous overseas trips organised by the Israeli foreign ministry. While on a trip organised by the Israeli foreign minister after the war began, Levy says he saw a woman in New York ripping down a poster of one of the hostages – “when we confronted her and asked: why the hell are you doing this, she said she didn’t know.”
The Israeli government has been criticised by some (including hostage relatives) for using the plight of the hostages to manufacture consent and support for a prolonged war in Gaza. Conversely, posters of the hostages are routinely used by protestors inside Israel calling for a ceasefire and an end to the war in Gaza, where the death toll now nears 40,000 and famine conditions and infectious diseases are rapidly spreading.
During his speech to Congress today, Netanyahu is expected to make the case for “total victory” in Gaza and a complete elimination of Hamas — which has been criticised as a strategy for endless war.
“Israel will never win the war if the hostages don’t come back,” says Levy, who believes Hamas cannot be completely eliminated — “you cannot kill an idea.”
“I’m not a political guy,” he says. “I want my brother back. I want my nephew to get his father back after his mother was murdered. Anything related to politics or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or agendas that other countries might have or financial agendas, I don’t care. I need my brother back.”
“I know people tend to see them [the hostages] as political, as part of a chess game between governments,” he says. “They’re human beings – they’re not part of this game.”
A week ago, Levy met the Israeli Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant (who along with Netanyahu is facing a possible arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court in the Hague) who updated him on the negotiations. He said Israel’s demands for a hostage deal are very simple and that Hamas is the party that keeps changing its demands.
However, other hostage families and 70 per cent of the Israeli public, according to recent polling, believe that Netanyahu is deliberately obstructing the hostage negotiations and changing the terms for his own political survival.
Earlier this month, the left-wing Israeli outlet Haaretz published a report charting how Netanyahu had systematically foiled efforts to conclude a hostage deal over the last six months. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving premier, has been accused of bowing to pressure from two far-right cabinet ministers who’ve threatened to bring down his government and trigger early elections if he makes concessions to Hamas.
Zahiro Shachar Mor, the nephew of 79-year-old hostage Avraham Mundar, will be protesting Netanyahu’s visit in DC this week. “We’re here to send a message that (Netanyahu) cannot just go to America and get a standing ovation in Congress as if he won this war and freed the hostages,” Shachar Mor told Haaretz. “We are here to show the world that… the voice of Netanyahu is not the voice of Israel.”
The trip to DC is supposed to offer Netanyahu an opportunity to reset relations with the Biden administration, which have become increasingly tense due to the Israeli prime minister’s uncompromising approach to the war in Gaza and obstruction of the hostage deal negotiations.
At the address in Congress, several Democrats are expected to boycott the speech. A joint session would usually be presided over by the Vice President but the office of Kamala Harris has said she will not be available due to what her office says is a prior commitment to her nascent presidential campaign.
This means the new presidential candidate will avoid being photographed in Congress sitting behind Netanyahu, a figure deeply unpopular with the progressive wing of the Democrats, which Harris is more closely aligned with than Biden.
With Biden announcing that he will withdraw from the presidential race, Netanyahu faces a tricky dance of trying to reconcile with the current administration (which will remain responsible for US foreign policy for the next six months); while preparing for a possible Trump presidency in November, all against the backdrop of widespread protests including from Jewish American groups against his visit this week.
Trump and Netanyahu’s relationship broke down after Netanyahu congratulated Biden on his win in 2020. More recently, Trump publicly criticised Netanyahu for Israel’s intelligence failure around 7 October and said that a future Trump administration would not look kindly on a failure by the Israeli government to cement a hostage deal soon.
Nevertheless, Netanyahu has requested a meeting with Trump this week and believes a Trump White House will give him a freer reign in how he wages the war in Gaza and expands settlement activity in the West Bank and potentially Gaza.
Michael Koplow from the Israel’s Policy Forum said: “There is a near-universal perception that Netanyahu is eager for a Trump victory, under the assumption that he will then be able to do whatever he wants.”
Hannah McCarthy is a journalist based in Beirut.
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