Father of Hostage Thanks Ossoff, Warnock for Their Votes

I am a father, an Israeli father, who myself have served in the Israel Defense Forces, as have my three children. My son, Nimrod Cohen, was a soldier in a tank unit on October 7th, one of the infamous parts of the attack that dark and bloody day. Despite being a proud and patriotic Israeli, my message has been ignored, or in some cases willfully ignored by my own government and especially American Jewish legacy organizations.

My life, and the life of my family have been a living hell since October 7. For over a year we have fought every day to bring my son home, yet the American Jewish legacy organizations have abandoned us and the majority of the Israeli hostage families who have spent over a year in the streets putting their own lives on the line against police brutality, to demand a hostage-ceasefire deal.

Every time we asked a major organization to stand up and call out PM Netanyahu’s role in preventing a hostage deal and seeing our loved ones returned, they all replied the same, “we understand, but we can’t say this out loud, we are already under attack, if we speak to internal divisions in Israel, it will only lead to more antisemitism.”

It is this same sentiment that was expressed most recently in the joint letter by Jewish American orgs in Georgia, when they attacked the senators John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock for showing courage and understanding, by voting in support of the recent JRD (offensive weapons limited sales to Israel). These votes were to hold back sales of less than 5 percent of U.S. military assistance to Israel since October 7th. A symbolic push to end the killing and show that the U.S. is serious about doing everything in its power to return the hostages, including seven Americans.

I have spent the last many months going around the U.S. and around the world to advocate for Jewish Legacy Org leaders and mainstream political leadership to show public support for a deal, in an effort to apply pressure on the Bibi government. Though some smaller organizations have opened their doors to me and my wife in our pursuit of getting support for a hostage deal, many organizations choose to ignore our plight and our pleas, opting instead for a ‘bring them home’ moniker, but who will bring them home? How are they to return without a deal? These organizations have all been fine to cry and mourn for our hostages, but they won’t do what it really takes to return them safely to our loving arms.

The continuation of the war despite the justification being “to return the hostages” has not led to any Israeli family members being released for over a year now. The math is simple, a hostage deal and ceasefire saw the return of 105 hostages, military operations have brought home four hostages, for which we are grateful, but this also came at an extremely high military and civilian cost. We have watched as troves of evidence have been published, clearly delineating the various ways in which PM Netanyahu has prevented the hostage deal and has prevented my son’s return.

The answer is clear, the only pragmatic way to get our family home is through a hostage deal and ceasefire. Netanyahu’s policy of endless war is not making Israel safer, it is making America and its Israeli ally weaker as we squander the moral footing we have long relied on.

Moreover, after spending weeks of time in the USA, and in the halls of congress fighting for my son’s return, I realize, this war is also going to bring harm to our Jewish families in the diaspora.

Therefore, when Senators Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock voted to send a simple message to Israel’s political leaders to stop the killing and start negotiating, they were doing what many hostage families have asked.
Misinformation has been widespread. Does anyone honestly think that we would hold the position that Israel should not defend itself?

At the very least, we will leave those who wish to extend this war longer with this: Do not use our family members’ names to beg your government to support a war the majority of Israelis do not want and do not think makes us safer. Your senators have done what is right, we hope you will support them.

Yehuda Cohen is the father of one of the hostages, Nimrod Cohen, currently being held by Hamas.