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In a stark address at the Jewish Federation of North America General Assembly, Israeli journalist Barak Ravid criticized the Israeli government's handling of hostage negotiations.
By HANNAH SARISOHN NOVEMBER 11, 2024 22:01
Families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza and supporters protest at the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem on October 28, 2024.
(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
An audible gasp echoed throughout a packed meeting room early on Monday morning as Jewish Federation of North America General Assembly attendees listened to esteemed Israeli journalist Barak Ravid speak bluntly about the reality of hostage negotiations and the Israeli government.
Ravid's conversation followed a somber panel with hostage family members.
"The Israeli government screwed up, nobody else," Ravid said. "It's their responsibility, and they made a choice that for them, it is more important at the moment to continue a perpetual war in Gaza with a perpetual occupation."
According to Ravid, all indications show Israel is closer to having settlements being built in Gaza than it is for the hostages coming back.
"That's the reality. I'm sorry," Ravid said as his audience bristled. "I don't want to depress anybody so early in the morning, but that's the reality."
There was no real pressure from the Biden administration on the Israeli government to get a deal to win the war, Ravid added, but maybe Trump's administration would act differently.
"The current status quo, and the inability of the Biden administration to break the status quo, a Trump administration could be an opportunity," he said. "Because anything that will create some sort of a change in the current situation, in my analysis, could lead to a break."
Orna Neutra, mother of 23-year-old New York-born hostage Omer Neutra, said there's an opportunity within the transition government for both the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration to work together.
Ravid does not see the war ending or a hostage deal being reached before Trump comes into office on Jan. 20.
The hostage families are particularly despondent now that their "patron saint" Yoav Gallant was removed from his position as Defense Minister, Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of 35-year-old hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen, said during the first part of the panel.
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Gallant seemed to "care a little" and gave the families more than just lip service, Dekel-Chen said.
"All Israelis understand that this was political for domestic, internal Israeli politics," he noted.
There's a difference right now between supporting and loving Israel and using your voice for that which is right, Dekel-Chen explained, which may contradict to some degree what the Israeli government is doing.
"But if you have to prefer the good of the Jewish people over the good of this particular government, which will pass at some point, I implore you, choose the good of the Jewish people," he said.
Dekel-Chen and Dalia Cusnir, sister-in-law of Eitan and Yair Horn, criticized American Jewish organizations for failing to stand up to the Israeli government to ensure a hostage release.
Cusnir slammed organizations, including the Jewish Federations of North America, as well as the Jewish Agency and JDC, for not speaking out forcefully enough.
"We need to have a joint call and urge the Israeli government and say that the Jewish community of North America needs a deal," she said. "That's the only way to bring them back, and that's the only way that we can remain Jewish."
Dekel-Chen put it more mildly, saying some Jewish organizations have been "resistant" to using their voices on behalf of the hostages.
"Some of the Jewish organizations in the United States and North America have been resistant to using their voice on behalf of the hostages,"
Again, Ravid was more blunt.
Many American Jewish organizations and those in the American pro-Israel community have abandoned the hostages, Ravid said.
"It's sad, and I think history will judge a lot of those people," he said. "I hope they can sleep at night."
Heather Adelson, a campaign director from Federation CJA in Montreal, asked Ravid if the IDF could get back the hostages without a deal, to which Ravid promptly said no.
After the panel concluded, Adelson told The Post that she was shocked at Ravid's response, and it's the first time she heard someone say military action will not save the hostages.
"The tone here took me by surprise, because, as a Jewish person, I always have hope," Adelson said of the subdued energy of the session. "And by the way, whatever they said, they could be right, but I know it could change tomorrow."
However David Lauer, a JFNA cabinet member from Ann Arbor, Michigan, was not at all surprised to hear the severity of Ravid's words.
"I've been hearing that from my people on the ground," Lauer told The Post. "So many American Jews are insulated from people on the ground and are more tuned in to governmental institutions and super PACs,"
Lauer said this has to be a galvanizing, "aha moment" for a lot of people.
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