My hostage son is coming home – here’s why I want Netanyahu gone

This morning, it was finally raining in Israel after a long summer. It was only me and my wife Viki in the house. My 21-year-old daughter Romi has come home, and my older son, Yotam, 24, who has been in Washington, is getting a fast ticket back to us to be here tomorrow at noon. All the family will be home, getting ready, except my son Nimrod. Though Nimrod, too, is soon coming home.

On October 7, Nimrod was guarding the area near the Nirim kibbutz close to the Gaza frontier when his tank malfunctioned, his unit was overrun by Hamas and he was taken hostage. It is strange when you have a son, you know he’s alive, but you have no way to reach him. For two years I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to him. We don’t know his physical or emotional situation. Of course, you get used to everything. Even the worst things in life, you get used to. That’s the situation, and you need to fight it.

In days – perhaps this Sunday – we will see him. I’ll be the second one to hug him. The first will be Viki. She’s his mother, which is more important. Now what can we do but wait? We do not want to exhaust ourselves with the hope that it might be sooner.

He’s a normal boy, special to us, but we always say he’s not a rock star or a sports star. He’s like every normal boy: he likes music, trips to the country, video games, he plays with his Rubik’s cube. They even found one in the tank, covered with ashes. We always called him the peacemaker in the family, between his twin sister and his older brother. They’re very ambitious, and you know what happens when two ambitious people come together. But Nimrod is always about compromise.

Of course, Netanyahu must go. He is a danger to the country of Israel. He should have gone three years ago, and he knows that his days are numbered. There must be a decision on a date for an election; the Israeli Knesset, our parliament, is going to assemble in a few weeks after the holidays, and – although we’ve said this before about Netanyahu – he hasn’t got a hope of surviving. We need to fight to get rid of this man, first as a prime minister, as someone who has any authority or power to make decisions on the country of Israel. And then he needs to live the rest of his life in jail, if not for his criminal offences for the trial he is now on, then for breaching Israeli security.

He exposed the country of Israel to the most heinous attack by a terrorist organisation since 1948. Areas, villages, were exposed to an enemy without a defence. People were slaughtered, raped, butchered and kidnapped. Villages were burned. All because Netanyahu was running a policy of ignoring all warnings that things were going to happen, too busy with breaking the judicial system here in Israel for his personal gain, nominating his judges and dictating their verdicts. And that’s why it happened. Afterwards, instead of taking responsibility and moving aside, he was anxious to stay in power only for his personal interests – to avoid his trial. He certainly succeeded in that.

I see four reasons things shifted. One, when the European countries started to declare they were going to recognise a Palestinian state and collaborated with the moderate Arab countries on this issue. Second was the attack on Doha, a big mistake by Netanyahu and another attempt by him to sabotage a deal. Third, the Nobel Peace Prize. Since Trump couldn’t move forward with ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, he went back to the Israel-Palestine conflict and forced Netanyahu to end the war. The fourth reason: public opinion. People on Trump’s side, mainly the Maga people, started to shift their opinion, saying that Netanyahu is leading Trump, and we have to end this thing in Gaza because our party is America First.

Since the vast majority of Israelis wanted the end of the war, the country is happy that things are finally moving. Last night at midnight, people were cheering. I didn’t leave the house. We have to find the good in every bad. After the loss of hundreds of people, young and old, the suffering of people in Israel, in Palestine, we have to make sure that this won’t happen again. And the only way to make sure is to move forward with a two-state solution. There must be compromise. This is the only way. And as I always say, the two-state solution, as an Israeli patriot, is in the Israeli interest. Conflict between the two sides has only led to terrorism, backed by a demagogue prime minister. We must say: never again.