From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, September 9, 2025
‘Shameful’: Freed hostages chide MKs for failing captives, say they would act to save own relatives
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, freed hostages Iair Horn and Sharon Aloni Cunio demand the return of those remaining in Hamas captivity, blaming lawmakers and the government for failing to secure their release.
Aloni Cunio, who was freed in November 2023 along with her two daughters, Yuli and Emma, but whose husband David Cunio and brother-in-law Ariel Cunio remain hostage, complains that lawmakers are doing “the exact opposite of bringing [the hostages] back.”
“Why aren’t you by our side — is it because they’re not your family members?” she asks. “How much longer will I lie to my daughters, telling them [that their father will be released] any minute now?”
“How much more can I take? This is daily abuse. Why do I have to come here and reopen my trauma just to fight for my husband and brother-in-law? It’s shameful that you have not a shred of compassion for us or for them. I’m sorry I have to come and disrupt your agenda just to remind you that there are still 48 hostages there. I hope this moves you — even just a little,” she declares.
Horn, who was abducted from his Kibbutz Nir Oz home on October 7 and released from Hamas captivity in February 2025 as part of a mediated ceasefire-hostage release deal, but whose brother Eitan remains captive, says a deal “is probably the best way to release the rest of the hostages.”
“My heart is broken. What happened yesterday was another blow,” he says, referring to the four IDF servicemen killed in a Hamas attack on the outskirts of Gaza City early Monday morning.
He recalls how he helped his brother younger brother Eitan run for his life while Israeli forces bombed near the tunnel in which they were being held.
“I’m stuck on October 7. The whole family is stuck. I’ll probably never get over it. I’ll cope, but I think the country is in distress, the people of Israel are in distress, and in order to begin to heal, we need to end this whole thing — the entire war — and bring back the hostages, and go back to trying to be something closer to a proper country and society,” he says.
The Times of Israel Community.