Parent of Israeli American hostage says Netanyahu’s ‘idea of total victory’ is ‘not realistic

The father of an Israeli American hostage being held captive by Hamas blasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for what he feels is prioritizing a total victory against the militant group in Gaza over securing a hostage release deal.

“I think the vast majority of Israelis now have come to believe, by his actions — not his words — but by his actions, that he’s been driven primarily by a desire to retain power with a narrow, very radical messianic coalition in the Israeli government, and he has made choices to pursue this fantasy of total victory over Hamas, a terrorist organization, and no doubt,” Jonathan Dekel-Chen said Sunday on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”

“But this idea of total victory is a messianic one from his coalition partners and not realistic, and he’s preferred that, at least to date, over the wellbeing of all the hostages,” he added.

Connecticut-born Dekel-Chen is the father of Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35, who was taken captive during Hamas’s Oct. 7 surprise assault on southern Israel.

The Times of Israel reported Segui was one of the first in his Kibbutz Nir Oz to notice Hamas militants entering the area. He was one of roughly 250 people taken hostage during the assault, which killed more than 1,100 people and triggered the months-long war in Gaza.

The interview came hours after Israel’s military confirmed it recovered the bodies of six hostages in Gaza, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a native of Berkeley, Calif. The Israeli military said Sunday the six hostages were killed by Hamas shortly before forces reached them in an underground tunnel in Rafah.

The recovery of the bodies has prompted further calls for a cease-fire and hostage release deal to halt the 10-month war. Negotiations have dragged on for months between Israel, Hamas and international mediators.

“Israelis at large, and myself included, have been extremely critical of the Israeli government for not negotiating in good faith,” Jonathan Dekel-Chen said. “Now, for many, many months there is no explanation — a reasonable explanation — why our government is refusing to deeply engage in these negotiations and complete them, when our entire senior military establishment and intelligence community has been saying publicly and openly for weeks and months that the time has come to end the fighting in Gaza, get our hostages home, as many alive as possible.”

Protests by angry Israelis unfolded Sunday into the streets, with many shouting “Now! Now!” in a call for Netanyahu to strike a deal for the return of the remaining hostages, The Associated Press reported .

Netanyahu has remained steadfast in continuing the war until Hamas is destroyed and argues military pressure is needed to bring the hostages home. Israel’s retaliatory campaign to eliminate the threat of Hamas has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians since early October and driven hundreds of thousands of civilians from their homes in Gaza, per local and international health officials.

Netanyahu said Sunday Hamas members will “pay the price” for the recent deaths of the six hostages.

“We will not rest, nor will be silent. We will pursue you, we will find you and we will settle accounts with you,” he said, adding , “Whoever murders hostages does not want a deal.”

He claimed Hamas has “refused to hold genuine negotiations,” and stated Israel agreed to a hostage release deal with the full backing from the U.S., while Hamas refused.

Hamas, however, has claimed it has offered to release the hostages in return for a halt in the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of some Palestinian prisoners, per the AP.

Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, told the AP the hostages would be alive if Israel accepted a U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal that the militant group claimed to have agreed to back in July.

The U.S. government has served as a key mediator in the months-long negotiations. Jonathan Dekel-Chen said the U.S. has been “extraordinarily supportive” of the hostages’ families.

“I believe that they have done everything in their power up to now. But at the end of the day, two men have to say, yes,” he said. “One is Yahya Sinwar [Hamas’s political chief], in a tunnel under Gaza somewhere, with the blood of thousands on his hands — Israelis and Palestinians. And Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.”

“President Biden, I believe, has done everything that he can,” he added.

Jonathan Dekel-Chen lives at Nir Oz, along with Sagui’s mother, Neomit, who was reportedly taken captive in a cart toward Gaza before an Israeli military helicopter shot the militants and driver. She eventually returned to the kibbutz, and was evacuated, the Times of Israel reported.

The Hill reached out to Netanyahu’s office for further comment.

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