Trump’s ‘all hell breaks loose’ comment gave us hope, says daughter of American hostage

“It’s not just a fight to return my parents—it’s a fight to return my friends, my friends’ grandparents, my friends’ babies.” These are the words of Iris Weinstein Haggai, whose parents, Judi and Gadi Weinstein Haggai, were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz during Hamas’s brutal October 7, 2023, attack. Speaking with resolve, Iris shared with The Media Line her family’s ongoing nightmare and her efforts to advocate for the return of all hostages so all of Israel can start healing—Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike. “We need them back—this is the key to starting a new chapter.” 

The interview

TML: Can you tell us about yourself and your family and about the possibility of a hostage deal? How are you all feeling?

Iris Weinstein Haggai: Well, I’m from Kibbutz Nir Oz. So, you know, it’s not just a fight to return my parents—it’s a fight to return my friends, my friends’ grandparents, my friends’ babies. It’s so much bigger than just the return of my parents. It’s an ongoing nightmare.

Today is day 438. To us, it’s just one long day since October 7, 2023. My father’s birthday was two weeks ago, and I can’t even describe what it’s like to have nothing but military intelligence regarding my parents.

For three months, we didn’t know what had happened to them. I heard my mom's recording with MADA [Israel’s emergency medical services]. She talks about terrorists shooting them while they were taking their early morning walk that day. She says they shot my dad, and he was probably dead, and they shot her, too. But aside from that, we knew nothing.

We expected my mom to come out during the November hostage deal. I even made new eyeglasses for her because we found her broken ones in the fields. Every day, I sat there waiting for her name in this torture of a reality show list game Hamas played. Every night, it was a no.

Eighty-three days later, we found out that they were both murdered that day and taken into Gaza. But we don’t have any forensic evidence. Your mind tricks you—maybe the intelligence is wrong, perhaps she fainted and survived. Plus, Hamas released a photo of her in May, claiming she died from IDF fire, which we know isn’t true. She died on October 7. But still, we don’t have a grave. So, my father’s birthday came, and we had nowhere to go. We can’t even start the mourning process. We’re just stuck—psychologically and emotionally.

Israel is ready for a deal, and the whole Middle East is ready for this to end. It's been too long. You know, my friends, we don't even have proof of life for any of them. We don't know what their status is. We're hoping they will come back to us alive. But we don't know. As far as my parents and the other, unfortunately, deceased hostages, they need to come home immediately. As Jews, we need that peaceful, restful burial for ourselves and also for them.

TML: You were in Singapore on October 7. How did it play out for you, especially given the time difference?

Iris Weinstein Haggai: I was six hours ahead. My parents always took their morning walk. That morning, I saw the red alerts for their area, which, unfortunately, isn’t unusual. I texted them, asking what was going on. I expected a nonchalant answer—because we’ve been bombed for 20 years. Instead, they told me they were lying face down in the fields and could see hundreds of rockets. I asked them to let me know when they got home, but they never did.

At 7:15 a.m., I heard from someone in the kibbutz that there were terrorists. I knew logically that my parents couldn’t have made it home without encountering them. My mind was racing: kidnapped, dead, or hiding. That was my logic. I was the only family member to speak to them that morning. Even though there was nothing I could have done, my mind still says, ‘What if I did this? What if I did that?’ I kind of used my logic to say, okay, there's no way my parents made it back home without encountering the terrorists. So they’re either, I don't know, kidnapped, dead or hiding.

It's still just the magnitude of the atrocities that my community went through, that Israel's going through, that the hostages are going through, like my friend, Arbel Yehud from the kibbutz, Shiri Bibas, and her beautiful children and husband. I don't even want to say it out loud, but we're all thinking: What's happening to them?

The magnitude is so great that you can't process the whole ordeal. But that day, we were just trying to find out what was happening. Ever since, I've been in ‘operation mode,’ meeting with the American administration and Canada, as my mom is also Canadian.

TML: You’ve been very vocal in your advocacy efforts. Recently, you said you feel hope for the first time. Can you tell us more about that?

Iris Weinstein Haggai: Yes. I actually have hope. You know, and this all comes down to what Trump did with his Truth Social post demanding the hostages be back by his inauguration, “Or all hell breaks loose.” My parents are American citizens, so we’ve had constant meetings with the White House. Just last week, I was in Washington, meeting with [US National Security Advisor] Jake Sullivan and Congressman Mike Waltz.

I told them I had hope for the first time since the last deal. And that’s because of what Trump posted. He repeated it again yesterday. That language made all the difference. If only world leaders had used that language on October 8, 2023, imagine the lives we could have saved—hostages, Israelis, Palestinians, because they are pawns in these terrorist games. I can't even describe the difference that little thing made. So, I'm very thankful to Trump for finally using the language that we have craved all this time.

TML: Would you say there’s a price too high to bring the hostages back?

Iris Weinstein Haggai: No price is too high. These are innocent civilians—not combatants, not soldiers. The Israeli government is obligated to bring them home by any means necessary. Do you know why? Because they had 20 years to fight what was next door to us. Instead, the Israeli government gave them [Hamas] money every month. And I'm not saying this to bring the government down for doing that.

I'm assuming it was happening because of international pressure. Also, there is the belief that maybe if we feed them money, they will invest in people and be quiet. But that's not reality. These are terrorists. It's in their charter to kill us all. And that's just the reality.

So, you know, we can deal with that later with the help, thankfully, of President-elect Trump, who, you know, as I said, we met with his team last week, as well as the current administration. And they are very serious about fighting terrorism, about not negotiating with terrorists, about sanctioning the Islamic regime in Iran.

They're earnest about everything that has to do with that, but as far as these hostages go, these are innocent hostages. They were not part of a battle. You know, they were not in a war. This was a cease-fire breach, and these people were lying in their beds on a holiday morning. The Israeli government is obligated to do everything it can to bring these citizens back home. They are obligated. I don't care what the price is. This is their obligation. After that, they can deal with whatever is left. What can you do?

Honestly, I don't think right now that Hamas is in a position where they can demand all the things that I heard people were saying throughout this year about, you know, we're not going to release these people.

You know what [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben [Gvir] said to this poor woman who was raped in captivity? He said to her it's either you or 10,000 Israeli women getting raped. But how about you deal with terrorism when it's next door instead of waiting for it to happen?

Israel is strong. The IDF is strong. I have complete faith in our security, but people were not doing their job. We need to investigate what happened on October 7. Until then, we won't know what happened. But I don't accept that point when people say the price is too high. No, the price is not too high. We have 100 citizens in Gaza. I don't even know in what conditions. Inhumane is an understatement. We need to bring them back by any means necessary. That is certainly the first step.

TML: Has this ordeal changed you?

Iris Weinstein Haggai: Yes. I always talk about life before October 7 and after. I think I always was a Zionist. I always loved Israel. I was connected to the land but not to what was going on in Israel. I felt foreign because I felt like the fundamental values of Israel were a little bit lost. I felt a little tired of fighting every day to have a family, you know, to let my kids grow safely.

We still find it unfair to live there with the amount of tax being paid and not even feel protected. I don't care about paying taxes, but I felt like I was being bombed every day and that the issue wasn’t even being dealt with. We were the victims of that, so why was I paying the government? Why have these people, who are supposed to lead the country and make my life safe, failed? Why are they not doing that? So, that's the only reason basically that I left.

I never used to live abroad. I never felt like a ‘Hasbara person’ [advocate for Israel]. I had a lot of criticism for the Israeli government, as I do to all governments, but I never felt like a Hasbara person, like an advocate. I was just living my life. But since October 7, you know, I noticed how crazy everything is. And you know, the information warfare, again, that's absolutely ridiculous. But for some reason, it's so easy for people in the world to believe it. 

Let's say I wasn't innocent before. But after October 7, my innocence completely disappeared. The people who lived in my kibbutz were the first in line to advocate for peace and a two-state solution. And I'm not saying I'm not advocating for peace anymore. I just know that specific steps need to be taken before we get to that point, which is not living next to terrorists that would help.

I’ve also realized this isn’t just an Israeli fight—it’s a global fight. Terrorism is a threat to every democracy.

I love Israel. And my sister still lives there. My brother still lives there, and, of course, my community. It was also a family. It's only a 400-people community. I want my kids to grow up in Israel. I know every rock in that place [Kibbutz Nir Oz], every, you know, street, every house. Right now, they're starting to tear down some houses because more than 50% of the houses were burnt down, some with my friends inside them, unfortunately. But, you know, it's just my heart is there all the time, all the time.

TML: Iris, your voice and strength are incredible. Do you have a message for world leaders?

Iris Weinstein Haggai: Yes. All world leaders should follow President-elect Trump and demand the unconditional, immediate release of all hostages. This is a humanitarian issue and should have been resolved a year ago. This is according to every humanitarian law in the UN to secure the release of these innocent hostages but also to secure world security. We can't let terrorism win.

We can't show them that we stand by them. It's not a value that democracies believe in, and we cannot stand by. At the same time, these innocent hostages are getting raped, executed, tortured, and starved while these Hamas leaders are in hotels sipping on their champagne. As far as the Gazans, I am actually in contact with a few people who know many people in Gaza, and they are starting to speak out against Hamas, finally.

So I think the world should listen to them, for crying out, you know, release them from Hamas. It's not just an empty statement. They are tired of this.

They've been living in these conditions for 438 days, you know, with Hamas not even caring about their own people. So maybe it's time to listen to people in Gaza instead of the antisemitic, terror-supporting people in the streets of New York and London. And, you know, in order for the region to start rehabilitating, to think about peace, we need to release the hostages and think ahead towards a better Middle East.

TML: Do you have a message to the people of Gaza?

To the people in Gaza: speak out against Hamas. Release yourselves from their grip. They don’t care about you—they’re using you as pawns. We need the hostages home to start a new chapter, rehabilitate the region, and work toward a better future.

We're also Canadians. So also with Canada, I've been working with Irwin Cotler and the Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, trying to influence sanctions and other ways to kind of, you know, deter these terrorists, stop them from doing everything they're doing. I mean, Hamas is still paying their terrorists, you know, salaries.

How can that be? The fact that there are indictments against Hamas leaders, and they were kicked out from Qatar to be welcomed into Turkey as guests and not in handcuffs. It’s outrageous. It's outrageous. So, you know, we've been trying to do everything we can, including lawsuits, to make sure this never happens again and to choke them from their funds in any way they can rehabilitate, honestly, because they are at their weakest point.

We are fortunate to have Israel as a state of the Jewish people. Jews and many others live there, and it's the only Jewish state. We need that state to survive. It all goes back to putting the ego aside, zooming out, and seeing the bigger picture. We have to do everything we can to preserve this incredible land that we have in order to, you know, prosper and make sure that this never happens again. And also send a message to the world: We don't stand with terror. We're strong. Don't do this again.

Unfortunately, we know history, and unfortunately, it repeats itself. But we have to make sure that we learn from this and become stronger.

TML: Thank you so much, Iris. It’s been an honor.

Iris Weinstein Haggai: Thank you.