‘I thought they were terrorizing me psychologically’: Arbel Yehoud didn’t believe captors when they said hostages had become politicized

Released hostage Arbel Yehoud condemns the politicization of the hostages and calls on the government to agree to a comprehensive one-time deal for the release of those still in captivity, in a message read aloud by her father to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

“I learned Arabic within a month, and I heard my captors express joy at the division in our nation over the issue of the hostages’ release,” Yehiel Yehoud reads from his daughter’s statement. “I thought they were terrorizing me psychologically when the issue of the hostages became a political issue. I didn’t believe it until I returned to Israel and was exposed to this harsh reality.”

“I was held for 482 days without seeing or hearing a single Israeli, from the time that I was separated from my partner Ariel Cunio three hours after I was kidnapped until I met Gadi [Mozes]. You can imagine for yourselves some of the horrors I went through during my time in captivity, which all of you saw on the day of my release,” Yehoud writes.

“Despite that, I returned with the goal of saving my beloved Ariel, his brother David, and all the rest of the hostages… alongside the long rehabilitation process that awaits me.”

She recalls how, hours after she returned to Israel, she turned to her father not to give up on the fight.

“‘I need Ariel in order to recover,'” Yehiel quotes his daughter’s words.

“Bring everyone back in one go — the living and the dead, and don’t scare the citizens with the price, but scare yourselves, and maybe that’s what will ensure that you protect the citizens of this country better in the future.”