What it’s like to fight for your (captive) family - with Maya Roman

Call Me Back - with Dan Senor

Ark Media

Society, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Israel, News Commentary, News, Politics, Elections, Palestine, Dan Senor, Government

4.8 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 April 2024

⏱️ 70 minutes

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Summary

There has been growing tension within Israeli society over where to prioritize a hostage deal – at what cost (in terms of how many and which Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons should be part of the deal and the length of any temporary ceasefire). At the same time, the sense of urgency behind Israel's hostage cause in capitals around the world is…drifting. Not disappearing, but drifting. A turning point seemed to be when the UN Security Council passed a resolution – 14-0 (made possible by a US decision not to veto) – that, for the first time, did not call for a ceasefire that was conditioned on the return of the hostages. It’s a sense we get from families of hostages, who are in regular contact with media, NGOs and governments around the world. It’s against that backdrop, that we sat down in person with Maya Roman, who was in New York and Washington, DC. Maya Roman is an Israeli journalist from Tel Aviv. On October 7th, Maya’s cousin, Yarden Roman-Gat, was visiting her husband’s parents in Kibbutz Beeri along with other family members. Yarden and her sister in law, Carmel, were taken hostage. Yarden’s mother-in-law (and Carmel’s mother), Kinneret, was murdered. Yarden was released as part of the hostage deal last November. Carmel is still being held. Since 10/07, Maya has not stopped organizing or advocating for the release of her family. When we hear of the hostage families movement, Maya is the kind of person who has been in the middle of it. In our conversation, Maya talks about what they have learned from Yarden since her return from captivity, and where the hostage movement may go from here, at this crucial and very raw phase. "Bring Carmel Back" on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bringcarmelback?igsh=MTBkaGlsd3JtbXI4eQ==

Transcript

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0:00.0	I have no way of knowing what would have happened if there wasn't a Gilagee deal, would there have been a different kind of yichie noir?
0:06.5	Like we don't know, we'll never going to know.
0:08.5	What we need to ask ourselves is, is it worth it? Is the price worth it? And to me the answer has to be yes because as you said
0:16.8	what differentiates my country from Hamas among other things is our commitment to human life. These are Jewish values, these
0:25.4	are Israeli values, and that makes me still proud to be an Israeli even in times
0:30.5	where I disagree with my government vehemently. And I think that if Hamas takes that away from us,
0:37.8	then to me they've won. This is the one thing that I feel is in the core of who Thursday, April 11th. It's 5 a.m. in Israel on Friday, April 12th. As Israelis are getting ready to start their day.
1:06.0	According to public reports, Hamas has indicated through intermediaries that fewer than 70 of the remaining 133 hostages are still alive.
1:18.0	And Hamas has also apparently indicated that of those 70 there are fewer than 40 hostages alive in the
1:26.8	quote-unquote humanitarian category meaning there are fewer than 40 women, children, elderly, or those in need of medical attention.
1:38.0	The rest of the hostages fall into a different category, that for captured soldiers and adult men.
1:45.0	Also, soon after the withdrawal of most of the IDF ground forces from Gaza last week,
1:50.5	Defense Minister Jov Galant said, and and I quote here we have the utmost
1:54.3	obligation to bring our captives back home and that Israel has reached an
1:59.7	opportune moment but that it will require difficult decisions.
2:05.6	There has been growing tension in recent weeks within Israeli society over where to prioritize
2:11.1	a hostage deal at what cost in terms of how many and which
2:16.2	Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons should be part of the deal and
2:21.2	what the length of any temporary ceasefire should be in the context of a deal.
2:28.0	All these questions of course have implications for the current war and a potential future war, hence the tensions.
2:36.0	Like for many of you, the hostages are always on my mind,
2:41.0	especially as we just cross the six-month anniversary of when all the
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