Friends,
Prime Minister Netanyahu is taking the stage at the United Nations in New York this morning.
My son, meanwhile, will be spending his 720th day in Hamas captivity, fighting alongside nineteen other living hostages to stay alive until their release.
I do not know what Netanyahu will say, but I know that it will be full of lies, spin and deflections. He will accuse his political opponents of being antisemitic and rewarding terror. He will drive our country deeper into international isolation – pursuing a warmongering, anti-democratic vision of Israel that I do not want or recognize.
I cannot stay silent while the man who has sabotaged my son’s freedom again and again stands before the world and pretends to represent me, my family and the people of Israel.
I call for greater international pressure to end this war and secure a hostage deal. As someone who served in the IDF – and is father to a soldier – I now even call for bans on offensive weapons, something I never thought I’d do.
The world cannot keep enabling this. We must do everything possible to end this nightmare – for hostages, for Israelis, for Palestinians, for our common humanity.
As we hear Netanyahu, let’s remember how we got here.
First, there is Hamas: A terrorist organization that has brought decades of misery, anguish and pain upon Palestinians and Israelis alike.
Hamas can never be allowed to control Gaza again. Arab and Western countries have already endorsed a post-war plan to empower moderates, sideline terror groups, and rebuild Gaza. A responsible leader would be focused on working with Israel’s allies to hammer out that plan.
But instead, we have Netanyahu.
Poll after poll shows Israelis overwhelmingly support a war-ending hostage deal that would bring my son home, along with thousands of other soldiers in harm’s way.
When Netanyahu claims that states recognizing Palestine are giving a “gift” to Hamas, the reality is that it was Netanyahu who helped build Hamas into the force that struck on October 7.
- It was Netanyahu who encouraged Qatar to funnel cash into Gaza, money Hamas used for tunnels, rockets, and recruitment. He became Hamas’s financier – strengthening them to weaken moderates and block a two-state solution, all to serve his political survival and ideological goals.
- It was Netanyahu who refused to listen to the IDF Chief of Staff and his own Defense Minister. He was too busy sending troops to defend illegal settlements in the West Bank and trying to dismantle Israel’s judicial system in order to keep his government afloat and derail his corruption trial.
- And now, it is Netanyahu who is doing everything he can to sabotage a deal and prolong this war – all because his extremists partners demand control of Gaza, even at the cost of Israeli soldiers, hostages, and tens of thousands of Palestinian lives.
Before October 7, Netanyahu’s power depended on fueling Hamas. Since October 7, it has depended on fighting Hamas. Either way, his survival is tied to theirs.
This is not a war for the Israeli people or a war for the freedom of hostages like my son. It is an endless war for Netanyahu’s political survival. He is betraying Israel, and he is betraying my son.
That’s why I’m so grateful to the hostage families and American Jews and Israelis protesting Netanyahu’s appearance at the United Nations. His words are not Israel’s words.
We cannot stay silent. We cannot allow one man’s obsession with his own survival to dictate the future of millions. He must be stopped.
May we have the strength to end this nightmare together.
Yehuda Cohen
A Loving Father
