Ex-hostages, prominent authors join mounting calls for deal – even if it ends war
Military elites, healthcare professionals, Nobel laureates, captives’ families unite in urgent appeal to government to prioritize the lives of those who remain in Hamas captivity
A fresh wave of public appeals on Tuesday urged Israel’s leadership to strike a deal for the release of the hostages held by Hamas, warning that the continued fighting in Gaza endangers their lives.
Some 200 relatives of hostages and 23 freed hostages, including Gadi Mozes, Ofer Calderon, and Shiri and Noga Weiss, signed a letter published on Tuesday backing reservists who have called for the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas, even if it means ending the war against the terror group that rules Gaza.
The letter called for all hostages to be returned in exchange for an end to the war, declaring that ongoing fighting “endangers the lives of hostages,” and stressing that this assertion is “not an assessment, it is a fact.”
Also on Tuesday, 350 Israeli authors called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war and bring the 59 remaining hostages home. The signatories included David Grossman, Shifra Horn, Fania Oz-Salzberger, Yehoshua Sobol, Ilan Sheinfeld, Zeruya Shalev, and other authors, poets, editors, translators, illustrators, and literary professionals.
The letter stated that most of the signatories have served in the Israel Defense Forces and contributed to the building of the State of Israel, its culture, and its literature.
In addition, 1,700 artists and cultural figures signed a statement calling for an immediate end to the war and the return of the hostages. The signatories included Adi Ness, Keren Mor, Rivka Michaeli, Rona Kenan, Achinoam Nini (Noa), Dana Berger, Assaf Amdursky and others.
The petition states that the war serves a political interest, does not contribute to any of its stated goals, and endangers soldiers and the hostages, with ongoing daily loss of human life, thousands of victims, months of upheaval, terror and human suffering, on both sides of the border.
“We, as creators who act, study, and explore the human soul, look on with pain and concern at the severe erosion of people and values and call with a crying heart, for the sake of Israeli society and in the name of the human spirit, to break the cycle of terror, for the immediate return of the hostages and for the war to stop,” stated the letter.
Meanwhile, 600 architects, engineers and planners signed a separate petition demanding the return of the hostages without delay, even at the cost of an immediate cessation of the war. Israel has said that it will not cease fighting until it achieves its war goals, which include the toppling of the terror group from power in Gaza and its elimination.
Dozens of veterans and reservists from the Israeli Navy’s elite Shayetet 13 commando unit also issued a statement Tuesday calling for the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas — even if it requires ending the war in Gaza, as the terror group demands.
“Stop the fighting and bring all the hostages home — every passing day puts their lives at risk,” the letter reads.
According to the letter’s organizers, 69 of the 254 signatories are currently serving in active reserve duty within the unit.
The letter comes a week after IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar said they would dismiss reservists who signed a similar petition from the air force. In recent days, similar calls to end the war for the sake of the hostages have emerged from the IDF’s elite 8200 intelligence unit, graduates of the military’s prestigious Talpiot program, and Navy veterans.
A Tuesday Ynet report said that the IDF is prioritizing dialogue with the signatories, rather than confrontation. The IDF intends to dedicate the remaining days of Passover to such dialogue, the report said.
On Monday, some 3,000 members of Israel’s healthcare system as well as several Nobel Prize laureates published a letter urging a deal to end the war and return the hostages.
Signatories included Prof. Aaron Ciechanover and Prof. Avram Hershko, who jointly won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004; Prof. Ada Yonath, a crystallographer who won the same prize in 2009, and the president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Prof. David Harel.
Netanyahu responded last week to the original air force letter, saying, “Refusal to serve is refusal to serve, even if it’s only hinted at in whitewashed language.”
“Statements that weaken the IDF and strengthen our enemies in a time of war are unforgivable,” he added.
Netanyahu labeled the signatories “fringe extremists” who are “acting toward one goal — bringing down the government. They don’t represent the soldiers or the public.”
