Nine American members of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum and families of Israeli hostages, before meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night, spoke at a press conference, where, according to the Times of Israel, they urged Netanyahu not to give a speech to Congress, later this week, that does not include an announcement that a hostage deal has been reached. One, Jon Polin, stated: “We view any speech that is not the announcement of the signing and closing of a hostage deal to be a total failure.” This message was repeated in separate meetings they had both with Netanyahu and with U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, later July 22.
When Polin was questioned about the likelihood of Netanyahu making such an announcement, he acknowledged that, while he had not been briefed on the contents of Netanyahu’s speech, Israel’s security establishment and the public heavily support the deal. He pointed to recent poll results of 67% in favor to 26% against. “After all the calls for a deal in Israel, I’m taking that cue and saying that if he flew to Washington in the midst of all of that, it must be that he’s here to announce a deal.” Polin added: “Whatever the Israeli government has not yet accomplished, it has to wait and happen at some other date. It cannot happen any longer on the backs of our loved ones.”
Ruby Chen, the father of murdered hostage Itay Chen, pointed out that the Hostages and Missing Families Forum had issued a statement earlier this month urging Netanyahu not to make the trip, because “it is premature.” Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of American-Israeli hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen, told reporters: “We expect from our prime minister to cease all stalling, to cease torpedoing any hope for a negotiated return of hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza to stop the suffering of the people of Gaza…. He’s here on sacred ground. It’s not a place for political theater for domestic consumption in Israel.” In last night’s meeting with Netanyahu, they told him to immediately dispatch the negotiating team, objecting to his holding them back until no earlier than this Thursday, July 25.
Netanyahu mainly gave the families his normal pitch, that only relentless military hostilities will accomplish anything. He said, according to the Times of Israel (TOI) that the conditions for a deal for their release were “coming together, without a doubt…. We are determined to get them all back. The conditions to get them back are coming together, for the simple reason that we are applying very, very strong pressure, very strong, on Hamas. We are seeing a certain change and I think that this change will continue to get bigger. And we intend to do it—this is a war objective. We are also seeing that the enemy’s spirit is starting to break.” If Israel stands firm, “we can reach a deal.”
Consequently, Netanyahu added, he would prefer no deal just yet, but rather to continue squeezing Hamas to get even better terms. TOI reported that this was “a stance the hostage families repeatedly said … that they could not accept, especially given that two more captives were confirmed dead by Israeli authorities hours earlier.” But Netanyahu “insisted he was doing everything he could to bring back the hostages while protecting Israel’s very existence.” Then, TOI’s direct quote of Netanyahu summed it up: “In no circumstance am I willing to give up on victory over Hamas. If we let up, we will be in danger from all of Iran’s evil axis.”
In a separate meeting, the families urged White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and White House Mideast czar Brett McGurk to pressure Netanyahu to agree to a deal. The families have more meetings today with administration officials and with various lawmakers.
