State of Israel has not been updating us about status of hostages, Ruby Chen says

The State of Israel has not been able to update the families of hostages about any progress in bringing their loved ones back home, Ruby Chen, whose son Itay Chen was killed on October 7 and his body is being held by Hamas, told Tamar Uriel-Beeri on The Jerusalem Post Podcast.

Chen, a native New Yorker who moved with his family to Israel, is one of several Israelis whose friends and family have been killed or taken hostage by Hamas. 

As a leading voice among the campaign to bring hostages home, Chen has been in contact with many of the officials involved in negotiations. 

"I've been to Qatar myself and had the opportunity to meet with decision makers," he explained, noting that he is in constant contact with Qatari officials. In addition, he has also received immense support from US officials, including President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and several congressmen and senators. 

"We have a weekly call with the White House," Chen said. 

He noted that he was very appreciative of Biden's call.

"He didn't call as the president, he called as someone that felt like a dad [whose] son got a tragic notice, and he felt he needed to come to say a few words of comfort, as he himself went through that process many years ago where he lost his son fatally in an accident," Chen said. "It was a very private conversation, but he gave words of comfort."

He also said Biden gave him a phone number, and told him to call it if he ever needed to talk to someone.

By contrast, he has not gotten that same level of support and approachability from the Israeli government. This includes any sort of meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has continued to elude them, as well as any progress in saving the 101 remaining hostages.

"We're down to 101," Chen said. "I think it's a failure of this government."

Losing a loved one on October 7

Communication with the government was also plaguing the Chen family since October 7.

"Itay was on a tank [on October 7], and there was contact lost between the team and the IDF, so they were defined initially as missing in action," Chen recounted. "They weren't in one of the hospitals. They were not on other lists as well. So they were basically unknown for a couple of days, and we needed to wait.

"Do you know what that means? Waiting, not knowing the fate of your loved one?" 

He continued, "After a couple of days, we got a knock on the door where we were notified by the IDF that Itay is not in Israel, and he is in Gaza, and he was taken hostage."

Despite this, they were not given any information about his condition. It was only in March when they had been told that 19-year-old Itay was killed on October 7, his body still held by Hamas in Gaza.

Another problem though is that the need to fight for recognition that the hostages are indeed one of the most important issues in Israeli society today.

"It's been a year," Chen said. "I don't think any one of us thought that we would be here a year after, not just needing to advocate, but having to need to convince large portions of the Israeli public that this is the most important, urgent topic that needs to be solved."

He further noted, "Somehow it became normalized that there are hostages," but people still tried to get up and go about their day. "How, in the love of God, has that happened?"

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