Last week, Speaker of the Knesset MK Amir Ohana (Likud) led a delegation to Japan, with the participation of Foreign Affairs and Defense committee chair MK Boaz Bismuth (Likud), Opposition Coordinator MK Merav Ben Ari (Yesh Atid), and Ilan and Gal Gilboa Dalal, the father and brother of Guy, who is being held hostage in Gaza.
The delegation members met with the leaders of both houses of the Japanese parliament, the chairs of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the Minister of Defense, and other senior officials in the ruling party and government. The delegation held a press conference for local and foreign media outlets, together with the Gilboa Dalal family, with the aim of raising awareness for the situation of the hostages and presenting the facts about the war in Gaza to the Japanese public.
For a video wrap-up of the press conference, see here.
Speaker of the Knesset MK Ohana thanked the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan, Fukushiro Nukaga, for the invitation and for Japan’s demand for the hostages‘ release. speaker mk Ohana made it clear that the dangerous call to establish a Palestinian state should not be aided, saying that on this matter there was no coalition and opposition among the Zionist parties.
Speaker MK Amir Ohana, along with Ilan and Gal Gilboa Dalal, gave statements to dozens of media outlets at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan (FCCJ) as part of the parliamentary delegation’s public diplomacy campaign.
The Knesset Speaker said, “The only deliberate starvation in the Gaza Strip is the one our hostages are suffering.” Speaker MK Ohana raised a photograph of Evyatar David, a childhood friend of Guy Gilboa Dalal, who was kidnapped together with him, saying, “Please look at Evyatar’s face—hollow cheeks, sunken eyes. A body wasting away by deliberate starvation. See the difference between his hand and the healthy hand of the terrorist giving him the can of beans. Please tell me—which of the two suffers from starvation?”
Speaker of the Knesset MK Ohana said further, “This is not the time for weak leadership. Weak leaders, who say they will recognize a so-called ‘Palestinian state,’ following the October 7 massacre, are modern-day appeasers. Appeasement has been tried, and tried again. The lesson always is the same: Those who indulge the beast of terror—are bound to become its prey.”
Ilan Gilboa Dalal, Guy’s father, said, “When Hamas sees pressure on Israel from all over the world, it just withdraws from its [willingness] to make a deal.” Ilan said that the most difficult thing for him was to be in Japan, because being in Japan was his son’s dream. “Right now, as we speak, as we sit here, my son is dying in the dark tunnels in Gaza, held by Hamas in a dark tunnel, with no daylight, no fresh air, no proper food and no medical care,” said Ilan, adding that in order to reach a deal to bring home the hostages and free the Gazans from the grip of Hamas, Israel should be supported.
“I’m very disappointed in the Western countries; instead of supporting Israel, they are supporting a terrorist organization, and giving them prizes [in the form of] recognizing a Palestinian state,” said Ilan Gilboa Dalal.
In response to a journalist’s question about the Government’s actions to return the hostages, Gal Gilboa Dalal, Guy’s brother, addressed Speaker MK Ohana: “I can say, right in front of you, that I didn’t choose this government, I didn’t vote for you. And yet, you are facing what is probably the hardest negotiation that humanity has ever seen. We are negotiating for human lives. One of them is my brother. They are doing everything they can, as I am doing everything I can.”
During the event, the anime film Guygu was screened for the Japanese journalists. The film deals with the life and kidnapping of Guy Gilboa Dalal, who was interested in Japanese culture, learned the language and even held a plane ticket for Japan that he was not able to use due to his kidnapping.
The Knesset delegation subsequently visited the Makuya community, a Japanese Christian movement that supports Israel and has been active since 1948. The delegation was received with a moving display of singing in Hebrew by community members.
Speaker of the Knesset MK Ohana presented Ilan and Gal Gilboa Dalal with a Japanese manga drawing in the image of Guy, created by artist Makoto Tanaka. Another drawing will await Guy—a manga enthusiast—at the Makuya center until he returns from captivity.
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