Hostage’s father to US lawmakers: True friends of Israel must pressure PM to take hostage deal

WASHINGTON — Testifying before the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, American-Israeli hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen’s father Jonathan says: “Any true friend of Israel today must pressure our prime minister to finish the deal now.”

Dekel-Chen notes that Israel’s own security establishment has implored the government to accept the deal on the table, explaining that it has completed the military goals that it set out for itself.

The father asks lawmakers to implore Netanyahu to agree to the hostage deal.

To the dismay of many of the hostage families currently in Washington, Netanyahu has moved to formally issue new demands later this week when he dispatches Israel’s negotiating team to meet with the mediators later this week. The premier argues that Hamas is beginning to buckle under military pressure and that it can be squeezed into agreeing to more concessions.