A hallowed or hollow institution? Bereaved hostage father speaks out - opinion

The following is an adaptation of the remarks.

Who would have believed that today, one year later, October 7, our son, along with a hundred others, still remain hostage in Gaza; Muslims and Jews, women and men, young and old, from 26 nationalities.

The Bibas family, all four of them, including Kfir, nine months old! Along with Shlomo Mansour, 86 – the youngest and oldest hostages.

I think that the best way I can share what it’s been like for us as hostage parents and families is to share the following story that occurred during our week-long mourning period, after 163 days when we heard that our son Daniel had been murdered on October 7.

On the Sabbath of the week of mourning, I sensitively asked my wife, “Shelley, how are you feeling?” What she said floored me. She said, “Doron, I can’t believe that I’m saying this, but I feel a sense of relief.” I couldn’t believe what I had heard because I certainly didn’t feel that way. “Relief that Daniel is deceased and that we won’t see him again?!,” I said.

“Let me explain,” she said. “I know that I have the rest of my life to mourn, but as a mother, I feel it is more manageable because it is ‘only’ MY pain. I feel I can somehow deal with my pain, but I couldn’t deal with the angst and anxiety every minute of every single day for Daniel. I could barely eat, not knowing if Daniel was eating. I could barely wash not knowing if Daniel had any warm water in the cold winter. I know now that he did not suffer, is not suffering, and he will not suffer. The fact that I know that he’s okay and in a good place, and that he never suffered in the hands of Hamas, gives me a sense of relief. Daniel is ok and I never have to worry about him again. Although I will never be fully ok, he is ok and that gives me a sense of relief.”

The barbaric, warped world of terrorists

In what world does a mother feel a sense of relief at the knowledge that her son is dead?

I’ll tell you in what world – the barbaric, warped world of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Iranian Ayatollahs. In the despicable world of terrorists, torturers, and tunnel mongers – in the dark world that their warped minds and perverse hearts will have us live.

And why should we all care? I’ll tell you why.

I came across a remarkable fact which I’d like to share about a UN conference which took place exactly 80 years ago. This was one of the founding conferences of the United Nations, which began in late September 1944 and known as the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in Washington. It concluded on October 7, exactly 80 years ago to the day!

The US, UK, Russia, China, and many other Allied nations came together with resolve to defeat Nazism forever. To create a safer and more secure world. Who would have believed in 1939 that within five years, not only would six million Jews be brutally murdered, but more than 60 million people would die on the European continent as a result of war?

They were resolute to create a new organization, as the League of Nations had become ineffective, to totally defeat Nazi-like evil for the sake of a better future. So too, today, the call of the hour on this October 7th, exactly 80 years later, is to stand up to the horrific phenomenon of terror – of human traffickers who trade in human beings. Not to pay a ransom or to reward in any way the most inhumane acts of human barbarism.

Terror today

You see, terror today is exactly like Nazi-like brutality for three reasons.

Firstly, Hamas has declared time and time again that they are not responsible for their own Gazan civilians It boggles the moral mind, but the regime has no care whatsoever for their own civilians. Ladies and Gentlemen, consider this. There is not one bomb shelter in Gaza. Not one. I got caught in Jerusalem during the ballistic missile barrage. I went into people’s homes that I didn’t know and sat with them for an hour in their bomb shelter. Bomb shelters to protect civilians are everywhere in Israel, yet in Gaza, they are nowhere to be found – only terror tunnels to protect the terrorists themselves.

Secondly, if you have no care for your own civilians, why would you care about anyone else’s civilians? Of course, you will then indiscriminately fire on, kill, maim, and murder others. It’s not combatants against combatants but combatants against civilians. Not soldier vs soldier as is acceptable in normative engagement in times of war. Not for terror regimes. They specifically target and terrorize innocent civilians.

And perhaps worst of all, I’d like to suggest perhaps the most despicable, inhumane act of all: hostage-taking. Incredibly, of the 250 hostages, around 90% were civilians holding citizenship in 29 different countries. Not prisoners of war but hijacked defenseless human beings. Who hijacks a nine-month-old baby? Who takes grandparents? Who indiscriminately captures Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, young and old?!

The Bible records in Genesis chapter six, when the flood came, a strange word appears – the word hamas in Hebrew letters is – Hamas. The first time this word is used is when it is identified as the very reason humanity lost its way. God made the tragic decision to destroy the world He had created in love – the experiment of humanity which did not work the first time around.

The reason the book of Genesis gives as to why the world could no longer exist is: “The world was filled with Hamas.” What does Hamas mean? One of the great commentators from antiquity known as Onkelos the Convert explained incredibly: The world was filled with hostage takers.

Why did the world lose its raison d’etre to exist? When people had no basic respect for others – hijacking babies from their cribs, grandparents from their families. When there is no fundamental respect for another human being’s most basic right to freedom and personal security – you lose any moral right to life. When you traffic in human beings and ignore the Godliness in others, you lose your moral raison d’être.

Hamas and those who advertently support them have lost this moral raison d’être.

This is the time, on this very day, to call on what the founders of the UN did – to commit this organization to be a hallowed institution above partisan politics and to stand up for universal humanism with unequivocal moral authority. Otherwise it is not hallowed but hollow, not constructive but destructive.

Such moral authority must claim the unconditional return of every single hostage. Not to reward or pay ransom and thus incentivize further inhumane human trafficking. This house should make a clear unconditional resolution to bring them home – humanity must demand to bring them home.

John Stuart Mill famously said that all bad men need is for good men to look the other way in the face of evil. You cannot claim, said Mill, to be good without protesting evil.

This house was set up not only to protest evil but specifically to prevent it – to proactively stand for the sake of morality against inhumane barbarism.

I’d like to ask another fellow man of the cloth, who has become a dear friend as all the hostage families have, Ali, to say a few words in Arabic:

Ali al-Ziadna: “In the name of God, praise be to God, prayers and peace be upon the messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace. I am Ali al-Ziadna, an Arab Muslim Israeli. My brother Yusuf and his son were kidnapped in Gaza on October 7 from their place of work in the Gaza Strip by Hamas. I am standing here to remind the whole world that Hamas did not differentiate between religions and kidnapped everyone. That’s why we came here to help in stopping the war and bringing the hostages back as soon as possible. And I’ll conclude, God willing, with a verse from the Quran: ‘After, I seek refuge with God from the accursed Satan, that after hardship comes ease.’ Thank you all.”

Rabbi Perez continued: One concluding comment. Amongst those killed of the 1,200 on the day were 22 Bedouin. Amongst those taken hostage were eight from the Bedouin community, all Muslims, four from the family of Ali. Now is the time, I say, to stand up for all of humanity against barbarism, for human morality against inhumanity, for light, love, and life against the culture of hatred, darkness, and death. God has promised that the Jewish people will be an eternal people, as Isaiah said: “You are my witnesses.” It is time, please God, for all those who stand for light, love, and life to stand up unconditionally – democratic countries and nondemocratic countries, Jews, Christians, and Muslims all around the world; all nations to come together – as we did 80 years ago on this day – from across the globe and say human morality must be above politics. Let everyone go, bring our people home, for the sake of our collective human future – Bring Them Home.

Thank you.

The writer, a rabbi, is the executive chairman of World Mizrachi and the father of Cpt. Daniel Perez, killed on October 7, whose body remains in captivity.