Family members of those who have been held captive in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, told a gathering of largely American Jews on Monday that “the most Jewish thing you can do” is speak out on the need for a hostage deal.
With the U.S. presidential election in the rearview mirror and a new government readying to take over, “we need to hear from all sides that this is really important for the Jewish community now,” said Orna Neutra, whose 23-year-old son, Omer Neutra, a native New Yorker, is a hostage in Gaza. “There’s an opportunity now in this transition phase.”
She was one of the relatives of hostages who spoke at a standing-room-only session on Monday morning at the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly in Washington, D.C., taking place from Nov. 10-12.
Neutra told attendees that she has heard from members of the incoming Trump administration who say they can work across the aisle to get a deal done. “This is a bipartisan issue, so you need to do that, and your communities need to continue hearing about this,” she said.
Of the 101 hostages who remain in Gaza, 97 were kidnapped on Oct. 7, and four had been taken captive years before. It is not publicly known how many hostages remain alive.
Lihi Moskow’s first cousin, Arbel Yehud, 28, is a hostage, and her 35-year-old cousin, Dolev Yehud, was killed by Hamas terrorists.
Neutra told attendees that there was a “very respectful” relationship between U.S. President Joe Biden and the relatives of hostages in Gaza.
She said National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Brett McGurk, the White House point man on the Middle East, have been updating the families regularly. “On the other hand, we feel that there’s not enough acknowledgment that having American hostages in Gaza and having American citizens murdered in Israel—those 45 Americans murdered—is a national security threat for the United States,” she said.
Seven American citizens remain in Gaza.
“The United States has assumed mostly the role of negotiator or mediator, which is almost like a backseat to Israel,” Neutra said at the event. “It’s been very frustrating because it doesn’t seem that they have a lot of influence or impact on the situation—whether enough pressure is being put on any of the parties to reach a settlement.”
She lamented that the recent U.S. elections put the issue on the back burner for months. “We’re all weary. We’re all tired. This needs to come to an end, and we’re not seeing enough intensity,” she said.
‘The most Jewish thing you can do’
Dalia Cusnir, who works for the Jewish Agency for Israel, is the sister-in-law of brothers Yair and Eitan Horn, 45 and 37, respectively, who were taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz. She spoke of her efforts to rescue Ukrainians amid the carnage of the early days of Russia’s invasion and bring them to Israel.
“We did not sit and wait for the government to make decisions. We took action,” she said. Like fellow hostage family member Jonathan Dekel-Chen, she lightly criticized U.S. Jewry for its hesitance to challenge the Israeli government.
“We need to have a joint call and urge the Israeli government to say that the Jewish community of North America needs a deal, that that’s the only way to bring them back,” Cusnir said. “That’s the only way that we can remain Jewish and maybe start healing from this.”
She added that “a call for a deal is the most Jewish thing you can do.”
Dekel-Chen, father of 35-year-old Israeli-American hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen, echoed Cusnir in response to an audience question about whether it would have a tangible impact if the U.S. Jewish community spoke out.
“My answer to you is it doesn’t matter. Do the right thing,” said Dekel-Chen, a fierce critic of the current Israeli government, who was more measured in his comments on Monday than he has been at times.
According to him, some North American Jewish organizations “have been resistant to using their voice on behalf of the hostages,” fearful that it will appear as criticism of the government.
“The freeing of hostages is one of the most ancient Jewish imperatives,” he said. He recommended that attendees apply “upward pressure” from the grassroots to such “resistant” Jewish organizations.
