Released hostage Ohad Ben Ami, who returned from captivity after 491 days, addressed the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday. Ben Ami said, “I was there in the tunnels, 30 meters below ground, with five other hostages whose families are here next to me. It’s been 150 days since my release—and you saw what condition I was in when I came out—and they are still there. They are undergoing very severe abuse.
“After my release, there was a period of about a month of negotiations, and from the moment they collapsed, there have already been three months of warfare. There are very difficult conditions there—abuse, fear of dying from IDF bombings, the fear that suddenly the kidnappers could come and take revenge because their families or friends were killed. There’s no food as soon as the crossings close; the situation is very difficult.
“All this time I have acted to the best of my ability, more on the level of [appealing to] Europe and the United States to pressure the Qatari government to influence Hamas.
“There were 12 days of war against Iran in which we won. I think we’ve defeated all the enemies surrounding us. We are a regional power. But with all these victories, there is no real victory here. We have been fighting against a minor terrorist organization for a year and a half. I haven’t been able to fall asleep in the past few days, I feel that now is the critical time. Their lives are in real danger. I fear for their lives very much.
“You are the people we elected to make the decisions, and you have to make the right, courageous and wise decision to bring them back. Afterwards we know how to do what is necessary, just like we’re doing in Lebanon after having signed a cease-fire agreement there.
“Our captors would tell us, your government has given up on you, the IDF wants to kill you. At first we didn’t believe them, but another month passes and then another month, and you get a sense that you have truly been forsaken and forgotten.
“We used to watch the Saturday night demonstrations on Al Jazeera, and that would keep us going. As the time passed, we started to lose it. They are in great distress there since I left, and they hoped there would be another phase [of hostage release]. When the warfare resumed, I’m sure that this broke their spirit.
“We have reached a stage in which all the stars are aligned, in my view. Every citizen will be proud when our state brings back the hostages and proves that the values on which we were raised, of mutual solidarity, of not forsaking a Jew, [still stand]. We will bring them back courageously and everyone will be able to feel that the [commitment] was fulfilled in terms of morality and values.
“We have nothing to look for in Gaza, everything is devastated there, it’s hell on earth. We have to get out the hostages and then do what needs to be done from above, with the Air Force, and not endanger a hair on the heads of IDF soldiers.
“Let’s finish this from a position of strength, in which we’re making the decisions,” said Ben Ami.
