Robert O’Brien, who served as the National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump, and Tom Nides, who was the U.S. Ambassador to Israel under President Joe Biden, co-wrote an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal on Monday titled “America Demands Hamas Return Its Hostages.”
In their editorial, they emphasized that any deal to release hostages should prioritize the seven American citizens still held by Hamas in Gaza, highlighting the bipartisan support in the U.S. for this cause.
O’Brien and Nides noted that during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, 12 Americans were taken hostage. Four of them were freed through negotiations, while one, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was brutally killed just hours before Israeli forces could reach him. “That leaves seven, of whom three are confirmed to have been murdered, and Hamas hasn’t returned their remains,” they said.
“We, like the presidents we served, don’t always agree on how to serve them. But we are united in our belief that the seven US hostages still in Gaza, along with the other 93 hostages, must come home now,” they wrote. “President Biden and his team have been working hard to make this happen. President-elect Trump has made clear that the American Seven must be released before he returns to office or there will be ‘h— to pay.’”
O’Brien and Nides also conveyed, “Hamas should read this bipartisan support as a unified American front. Its supporters throughout the region should understand that, for the US government, bringing home our citizens who have been unlawfully detained is a high priority rooted deep in our history.”
They further stated, “Negotiations for the release of the hostages are reportedly close to fruition. But we have been close before, then suddenly one of the sides decides to move the negotiation goal posts, and the opportunity to bring all the hostages home slips away.”
The two men emphasized that “all parties to these negotiations must know that any agreement must include the immediate release of the American Seven. They aren’t a bargaining chip. They are our fellow citizens with names and family members who await them with unbearable pain. This Chanukah and X-mas, these families will be forced again to sit at their holiday dinner with an empty chair at the table.”
O’Brien and Nides concluded with a direct message: “Hamas and their backers must hear the message loud and clear: Release the Americans in the first phase of the deal. All of them. Release the American Seven and remember their names at your holiday celebrations this week: Edan Alexander, Itay Chen, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Gadi Haggai, Judi Weinstein Haggai, Omer Neutra and Keith Siegel. This is the best deal you are ever going to see, Hamas.”
{Matzav.com}