Parents of freed IDF soldier Agam Berger to Trump: ‘Thank you for making us all do the right thing’

Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

Freed hostage Agam Berger (right) reunites with her parents Shlomi and Merav at an IDF facility next to the Gaza border on January 30, 2025. (IDF)
Freed hostage Agam Berger (right) reunites with her parents Shlomi and Merav at an IDF facility next to the Gaza border on January 30, 2025. (IDF)

Meirav Berger, mother of released hostage Agam Berger, offers a heartfelt, spiritual message of thanks for the return of her daughter, in a public statement at Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva.

“Thank you to the creator of the world, to the nation of Israel and the Jewish world, to those who stood with us and wrapped us in endless love and overturned every rock to bring our Agam home to us,” she says.

Her husband, Agam’s father, Shlomi Berger, thanks US President Donald Trump in English:

“Thank you, thank you for your care and for making us all do the right thing,” he says. “We will never forget your help, your generosity and your leadership, God bless the United States of America.”

Meirav also thanks the IDF soldiers, the country’s decision-makers, the family’s community in Holon, as well as their friends and family.

“And Agam, our superhero, what luck that you are mine,” says the released soldier’s mother. “With God’s help, take all that is offered to you. No one will ever be able to say no to you.”

Berger was freed from Gaza yesterday along with two other Israeli hostages and five Thai nations, 482 days after they were kidnapped during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre. Another three Israeli hostages are slated for release tomorrow, under an ongoing deal with the terror group.

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