Freed captive Gadi Mozes says ‘if Rabin were PM today, no one would have been left behind’

Freed hostage Gadi Mozes delivers an emotional address at Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square, drawing parallels between the legacy of slain prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and the trauma of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.

Speaking before the tens of thousands marking the 30th anniversary of Rabin’s assassination, Mozes — who was held in Gaza for 482 days — invokes Rabin’s 1995 speech at Kibbutz Tel Hai, adapting it “to these days and to our reality, thirty years later.”

“The story of Nir Oz and the Gaza border is the essence of our story,” Mozes says, recalling the massacre at his kibbutz and the heroism of its residents. “If there is no choice, if a sharp sword rests upon our neck… we go to battle, we go even to death. But I say: it is good to live for our country!”

Rejecting fatalism, Mozes urges renewed efforts toward peace.

“Death and bereavement are not a decree of fate,” he says. “We can — at the very least — try to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, with Syria, and with Lebanon. It is good to live for our country, and we must spare no effort to ensure our children and grandchildren will not know war.”

He also praises Rabin’s integrity and sense of responsibility, contrasting it with today’s leadership.

“If Yitzhak Rabin were prime minister today, no one would have been left behind,” he says. “He would not have given up on us, the hostages… He would not have slept until everyone was brought home.”

Concluding his remarks, Mozes vows to continue fighting for the return of the remaining slain hostages.

“I will not rest, I will not be silent, until the last hostage returns,” he says. “We have a wonderful nation, and a magnificent army… we must choose peace, because that is choosing the future of our children.”