April 16, 2025 • 25 mins
Israel Policy Forum Director of Strategic Initiatives and IPF Atid Director Shanie Reichman interviews Yotam Cohen, whose brother, Nimrod, remains in captivity in Gaza. A 20-year-old IDF soldier from Rehovot, Nimrod was serving as a tank gunner on the Gaza border on October 7 when Hamas attacked and dragged him into Gaza. Yotam reflects on the fight to free his brother, his perspective on the Gaza war, and Israel’s responsibility to prioritize bringing the hostages home.
Follow @bring.nimrod.home and @allhostages on Instagram and support the hostage families' fight to bring their loved ones home.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Shalom and welcome to Israel Policy Pod.
I'm your host, shani Raishman,the Director of Strategic
Initiatives and IPF Fatid atIsrael Policy Forum.
On this week's episode, we'regoing to hear directly from
Yotam Cohen, whose brother,nimrod, was taken captive by
Hamas on October 7th and isstill being held hostage in Gaza
.
Yotam has worked tirelessly tosecure the release of his
brother and all of the remaininghostages.
(00:25):
Every day that goes by withouttheir release, these hostages
are at greater risk of tortureor death, and this episode
serves as a critical reminderthat every hostage has a family
and a community that isanxiously waiting for their
return.
And while we celebrate Passoverand commemorate the Jewish
people's liberation from slaveryin Egypt, we should remember
that too many of us are not yetfree.
(00:45):
Hayotam, welcome to the IsraelPolicy Pod.
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Our pleasure.
We're speaking under veryunfortunate circumstances, but
we want to bring to light allthe work you're doing to secure
the release of Nimrod and all ofthe remaining hostages in Gaza.
I was hoping you would start bytelling us a little bit about
who your brother is and anythingyou want us to know about.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
So my little brother in Watkoim was kidnapped on the
7th of October.
He was an IDF soldier stationedat the southern part of the
Israeli-Gaza border between thetwo villages Nirim and Niraz.
He was a tank crew member,stationed there with his platoon
.
It was the tank remember,stationed there with his platoon
.
On that morning, the 7th ofOctober, saturday, they woke up
(01:29):
to the sirens like half of.
Israel and being combat soldierswith the tank.
They rushed to the border, tothe bridge, on the fence, to
shield the villages, to putthemselves as a physical barrier
, because those terrorists werealready storming the villages
and massacring and kidnappingthe civilians behind the front
lines, they put themselves.
(01:50):
Unfortunately, they weremassively outnumbered Only the
four of them and my brother andthree others against between two
to three hundred terrorists.
They were massively outnumberedand their tank the tank engine
was sabotaged.
They were massively outnumberedand their tank the tank engine
was sabotaged.
So the tank was starting to geton fire and they had to open up
the hatches in order to getsome fresh air, and the
(02:13):
terrorists managed to pull themout one by one.
Out of the four of them, mybrother was the only one to
survive that day.
The other three were killed andexecuted, but all four of them
were taken hostages my brotheralive, and the other three.
Their bodies were also taken.
(02:34):
This happened at around 7, 7.30am in the morning.
It was more than a year and ahalf ago.
My brother was 19 at the time.
He's now 20.
And the entire abduction wasfilmed by Hamas that morning and
was uploaded to social media asa part of their psychological
(02:55):
terror effort.
And so we saw everything thatmorning.
And ever since, we know thatNimrod is alive and we've been
anxiously waiting for his returnMe, my little sister, nimrod's
twin her name is Romy and ourtwo parents.
We've all been doing everythingwe could, but unfortunately it
hasn't been enough yet when didyou know that he had been taken
(03:17):
captive?
We saw the first pictures byHamas.
I think the first picture everto be seen was the one of the
burning tank, and so werecognized it was Nimrod's.
But the first, I think thefirst evidence that made us sure
was a video posted around 12 inthat morning showing the entire
(03:39):
abduction, and so we could seeNimrod's face and we knew for
sure that he was the one to bearrested.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And your families received some signs of life.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
This was the initial evidence Two days after the IDF
officers came to our house todeclare that Nimrod is
officially a hostage.
Ever since, we got multiplelife signs from returning
hostages.
The first ones were fromhostages who came back on the
first hostage deal on November23.
(04:09):
Two of them saw him in thetunnels in captivity, and I
think that the most recent andthe most, I think, dominant ones
were from the so-called firstphase, the recent hostage deal,
from three hostages who cameback and could tell us in detail
(04:30):
the actual period of staying incaptivity and how Nimrod has
been doing.
And I think a month ago, hamashas posted a video from
captivity before the release ofone of the hostages and his
departure from from captivityand him saying goodbye to his
brother, and we couldn'trecognize him more than this
video.
Although his face was blurred,we recognized a tattoo he has on
(04:54):
his right arm, and so we coulddetermine that this is any more
than a video and it was thefirst and only visual life sign
we have received.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
I know that you and your family have been very
actively engaging with manygovernments, including the
Israeli government, to try topush them to make a deal to
secure the release of yourbrother and, of course, all of
the others.
What has that been like?
Has there been any progress onthat front?
Of course we talk about this alot in the podcast, neri and I
that you know.
Every few weeks we get somesort of hopeful sign, but
(05:26):
sometimes it works out.
Oftentimes it doesn't, ofcourse.
So I'm wondering what sort ofprogress has been made or any
holdups you're seeing?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
So first we have to say that most of the heart
disease are released fromcaptivity.
So, even though our struggle isyet to end for many other
families, they receive theirloved ones.
So in the general sense I thinkthere is a progress in this
bigger problem For us especially.
Imorod, being a soldier, waskidnapped as a soldier.
(05:57):
We knew right from the startthat Imorod was going to be one
of the last hostages to bereleased, especially in the
living hostages category,because it is a symbol being a
soldier in captivity.
Right from the beginning, ourfamily, we've advocated for a
bigger, a comprehensive hostagedeal.
(06:18):
We've been saying right fromthe start that Israel should
make one, a single hostage dealto ensure the release of all the
hostages and, in return, endthe war.
Unfortunately, we're seeingthat the Israeli government is
limiting the negotiation talksonly to partial deals.
That would not guarantee theend of the war and therefore
(06:41):
will not bring anyone home.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
We've been saying.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I think, right after the first few months, that there
is no actual intention forIsrael to get all the hostages
and end the war.
From what we've been seeing andunderstanding, israel is trying
to prolong the war for whatwe're seeing right now,
endlessly and without an actualgoal.
(07:04):
This is why, especially ourfamily, we've been very vocal,
trying to promote and advocatefor both in Israel and outside
Israel for the idea of endingthe war, putting as much public
pressure as possible.
Fortunately, right now we'venot been successful yet.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Do you feel the support of the Israeli public
and the people?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I think that this is a huge point of light.
I think a point of hope for us.
We are seeing all the recentpolls in Israel in the major
broadcasting or media channelssaying that between 67 and
70-something percent the vastmajority, almost 75% of Israelis
(07:53):
are ending the risk of all thehostages and ending the war.
So we're seeing this very mucha stable statistics.
In the past two weeks and inthe past week we're seeing a new
phenomenon of soldiers inreserve in the IDF or military
personnel who were high-rankingofficers, were high-ranking
(08:15):
officers both in the army andother security agencies and the
Israeli police with open letterspublicly stating that they want
the end of the war and therelease of all the hostages.
And it started from one letterthat was published by former air
pilots.
This was the first letter.
(08:35):
We're now at the 16th letter byI can't remember there are so
many and it counts in the tensof thousands of people release
of all hostages.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
And he's actually held direct talks with Hamas and
of course, he had some successsecuring the release in the
beginning of his when he tookoffice.
(09:07):
So curious how you perceiveAmerica's role in these hostage
negotiations.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
So I think that everybody in Israel understood
that the Americans have a bigrole to play in this negotiation
.
At first, I'd like to say thatfor me, as an Israeli citizen,
this is very unfortunate.
The only government that owesme so-called owes me something
is really the government.
(09:33):
I, as an Israeli citizen, haverights as an Israeli citizen and
I should, I think, come to mygovernment with demands and
requests.
The reason, my brother beingone of them, the fact that we,
as Israeli citizens I'm abrother of an IDF soldier who
was kidnapped during active dutyhave to go to other countries
(09:54):
and to plead to foreign leadersand foreign elected officials to
help me in my eternal strugglein Israel, says how dire the
situation is.
We had very high hopes whenTrump entered office and I think
in some sort of way, hedelivered releasing 38 hostages,
most of them living hostages,which is something that cannot
(10:15):
be put aside.
It's a very important thing,and two days ago, my father
returned from New York.
We're still, even these days,trying to do whatever we can to
ensure more so-called foreignpressure on our government,
because we believe that this isthe only thing that can result
(10:36):
in the release of my brother,and I hope that we'll see some
results in the future.
But again it is very sad for meas an Israeli citizen.
I understand my governmentsimply doesn't care enough about
my brother's well-being, thatwe need other so-called agents
or other forces to do somethingabout this, but this is the
(10:57):
situation we're in right now.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Okay, and we'll be right back after this brief
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(11:19):
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(12:01):
show notes.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
What sort of pressure has your father been asking for
?
What was his experience liketraveling to the States?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
I think the experience is very positive when
we go to other countries abroad, especially in the US.
People are very polite, verynice, very lovely, which is
something that cannot be saidabout meetings with Israeli
officials better in ourgovernment.
What sort of pressure werequire?
(12:37):
And the same pressure that hasbeen put by Trump that resulted
in the first phase of thehostage deal.
Trump threatening even bothsides, both Hamas and Israel,
saying you have a deadline toreach a hostage deal.
The first deadline was the 20thof January, the day of Trump's
entering office, and we saw thatin that exact same day a deal
(13:00):
was signed and I hope to see.
I think the most positiveoutcome right now is to see more
pressure like this Trump'sgiving a deadline and we see
both sides sort of making theway towards it.
And I think it's only massivepressure on both sides, both on
Israel's side and Hamas' side,with the mediators who pressure
(13:20):
on Egypt and Qatar to get thisdeal and pressure on Israel to
agree for ending the war.
This is the only thing thatwill result in a hostage deal
and this is what we've beenasking all along the way, with
partial success.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
How do you perceive the role of Qatar and Egypt in
all of this?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Because of course, they are pretty active players
in the negotiations too.
I won't say an enemy state, butnot so friendly of a state.
They've been the mediators andwe need them to get these
thoughts that you do.
Apart from that, I don't seeany special connection with them
.
We've been asking both in theUS and countries in Europe to
(14:13):
put more pressure on themediators, because they have
such good relations with Hamas,to get them to some sort of an
agreeing point somewhere in themiddle.
But behind that, me as a smallcitizen, I have no idea what is
really going on behind closeddoors.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
What's your relationship with the other
families been like?
I imagine there's some sort ofcommunity that you've built.
Do you go together to protest?
Do you go together on thesetours of the United States and
to speak with Israeli leaders?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
So at first there were more than 250 hostages.
There were a lot of families,but as the time went on the
amount of hostages in captivityhas decreased.
So right now there are only 59hostages.
And so we are a small communityof families of hostages.
We've been knowing each otherfor about a year and a half and
(15:04):
so we're some sort of acommunity, a big family of sorts
.
For us, nimrod being a soldier,we have the even smaller
sub-community of the families ofthe soldier hostages.
We're going together to all themeetings with the Minister of
Defense, with the Chief of Staffof the IDF.
(15:25):
So this is our sub-communityand everybody belongs to a small
sub-community those who arekidnapped from the Novo Festival
, the hostages from the villages, from the kibbutzim.
Each kibbutz has its owncommunity, but we operate, I
think, in this big community offamily hostages.
Just Saturday night was thePassover evening and we had this
(15:53):
dinner in the hostage squarewith other hostage families,
simply to be together becausewe've become such a big family.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Do you find that there are very differing
opinions regarding the contoursof a deal?
What risk sacrifices Israelshould be making?
What sort of pressure, or arepeople mostly aligned?
Speaker 2 (16:11):
I think that at the beginning, there were various
point of views regarding whatshould be done, especially
regarding the fact that eachfamily had their own political
view and political opinionregarding what should be done.
But I think that in this pointof time I wouldn't say all the
families, but the vast majorityof the families agree or
(16:33):
understand the simple fact thatwe won't see all the hostages,
especially the living ones, athome without ensuring the end of
the war.
And so even those who find thispill hard to swallow or
politically disagree with thisnotion, simply understood or,
let's say, gave in to thisreality and so that, if they
(16:55):
want to see their son at home,they have to call for the end of
the war, even if it's hard.
And I think that, putting asideone, two, three families who
are strongly against this forpolitical and religious reasons,
the other families areadvocating for ending the war.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
That makes a lot of sense.
I think at the beginning of thewar, many of us were under the
impression that advancing a warcould help release the hostages
and that sort of pressure couldwork, and at this point I think
most of us know that'sunfortunately not, or for better
or worse, it's just no longerthe case and that a deal is
really the only method that canachieve what we want.
I'm curious what message youwant to convey to the
(17:31):
international community, anypolicymakers, about the
importance of resolving thehostage crisis.
Obviously this is very personalfor you, but it also fits into
a broader geopolitical contextas well.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Of course, I have a cold skin in the game because my
brother is a hostage, but whatwe've been trying to convey to
world leaders is that, incontrary to what our government
is saying, the vast majority ofIsraelis is pro-ending the war.
70% of Israelis want animmediate ceasefire and simply
(18:07):
ending the war, because theyunderstand that nothing good
will come by continuing the war.
The vast majority of Israelisand our government is doing the
exact opposite trying to prolongthe war at any price and in
doing so, resulting in morehostages killed, more civilians
(18:27):
on both sides killed.
And we want the world to knowthat the Israeli people want
peace and want to rehabilitatethe region, want to rehabilitate
the state of Israel, and we, asIsraeli, know that this cannot
be done without the release ofthe hostages, because the
release of the hostages is thefirst phase in a bigger rebuild
(18:49):
and we want peace at the end ofthe day and we want to eradicate
Hamas.
But we understand this can nolonger happen with military
pressure.
Like you said at the beginning,at the start of the war, 100%
of the families werepro-military pressure.
I was a big supporter of themilitary pressure% of the
families were pro-militarypressure.
I was a big supporter of themilitary pressure, to say the
least.
But we've understood thereality is very different and
(19:12):
what I want the world people,the world leaders, to know is
that when they call to the endof the war and for the immediate
ceasefire, they have to knowthat they have the people of
Israel agreeing them andsupporting them, even though our
government says otherwise.
And our government for mostparts, especially in this part
(19:34):
does not reflect the will of theIsraeli people and its opinion.
This is the most importantthing for us to convey.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
How has your relationship been with Israeli
media?
Have you felt supported by them?
Have you been in manyconversations with them?
Speaker 2 (19:45):
I think that after 7th of October, we found
ourselves public figures whoseopinions are looked after, and
we found ourselves being we'vebeen finding ourselves in all
the major broadcasting channelsand studios, which is a very
weird feeling to switch from avery private person to a public
(20:08):
figure with a public opinion.
I think that generally, themedia channels are very
supportive.
You can see the people behindthis.
The actual reporters take thisvery close to heart and actually
feel us and feel our pain.
They've been chatting with usand talking to us very
personally how can they do moreand what else can be done, and
(20:30):
we had the feeling that theywill do whatever needed to aid
us in our struggle and to helpus.
Although having all theseinterviews in the Israel media
channels is very exhausting andvery tiring to jump between
studios, the actual sense ofsupport is very much ensuring.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Let me ask you directly.
We work with the AmericanJewish community and
policymakers in Washington.
What's important for us to know?
And I'll ask specifically aboutthe American Jewish community,
how can we be supportive?
Speaker 2 (21:01):
I think that when we speak to Jewish communities both
in the US and also in Europe, Ialmost get the feeling that
they're sometimes misinformed ormiseducated about what is
really going on inside Israel,about the inside politics of
Israel and even the fact that Isaid 70% of Israel support the
end of the war.
(21:22):
When we tell this to Jews bothin the US and in Europe, they're
very much surprised about it.
They say how can this happen?
The other side, the Palestinianside or the Hamas side, is the
side that should logically tothem, should support the
ceasefire and the end of the war, and the Israel side should be
(21:43):
the one saying we cannot stopthe war.
The Israeli side should be theone saying we cannot stop the
war.
This is what we've been tryingto educate as much as possible,
what is really going on insideIsraeli politics, and I urge
everyone who takes this close toheart and really cares about
the Israeli people and Jewishpeople in general, really do
(22:03):
your searching and read as muchas possible Israeli media,
israeli articles to know what isreally going on, because what
is happening inside Israel doesnot reflect what you see outside
of Israel and all those whowant to support the Israeli
people and really want tosupport the state of Israel not
the government of Israel shouldhelp us and especially us as
(22:26):
hostage families, should helppromoting the idea of a
ceasefire and ending the war.
Of course we're releasing allthe hostages because, from what
we understand, these things arecoming together, always come
together ceasefire and thehostage deal and the state of
Israel is being in an ongoingwar for a year and a half.
(22:46):
Both states of Israel and Ithink it's important to say that
the civilians, the Palestiniancivilians in Gaza.
I think that, at the end of theday, we need this region to
heal and we need to buildsomething sustainable, because
from the 7th of October, ourpeople has been in an ongoing
war without any chance to healor rehabilitate or even rest for
(23:09):
a little.
Every couple of days, there aremissiles entering Israel and
there are terrorists, there areterror attacks and there are
more soldiers dying in thesemultiple fronts.
We're managing.
It's very.
I think it's the most importantthing for Israel right now is
to end the war and rethink howwe're managing.
I think it's the most importantthing for Israel right now is
to end the war and rethink howwe're not destroying things, but
how are we going to build?
Speaker 1 (23:30):
And I'll just share on the public opinion polling
that in Israeli media.
You see almost weekly pollingon the major news channels of
the Israeli public opinionsaround the war and a hostage
ceasefire deal.
They are often not translatedinto English, although you can
find them somewhere, but I justthink it's important to say
perhaps some of the source ofthe miscommunication.
Thank you so much for your time, Yotam.
If there's anything else youwant to share, please do.
(23:52):
I will just say it's been aprivilege to be able to platform
your voice and make sure thatyou are heard and your story is
heard and, of course, we'realways thinking and talking
about and praying for andprotesting for across
communities the release of allthe hostages, including Nimrod.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Thanks again to Yotam Cohen for sharing his brother
Nimrod's story and hisperspective on the hostage
family's ongoing struggle tobring their loved ones home.
59 Israelis remain in captivityafter an unimaginable 558 days.
This Passover, as we rememberthe exodus from Egypt, we should
also reflect on the joyousreunions of the hostages who did
return home to their familiesthis past year, and we pray that
(24:31):
all the hostages remaining incaptivity are going to see
freedom in the year to come.
Special thanks to our producer,jacob Gilman, and all of you
who support Israel PolicyForum's work.
Please like and rate thispodcast and subscribe if you
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Please like and rate thispodcast and subscribe if you
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(24:52):
very deeply about.
Most importantly, thank you forlistening and chag sameach to
all those celebrating.
Thank you.
Shalom and welcome to Israel Policy Pod.
I'm your host, shani Raishman,the Director of Strategic
Initiatives and IPF Fatid atIsrael Policy Forum.
On this week's episode, we'regoing to hear directly from
Yotam Cohen, whose brother,nimrod, was taken captive by
Hamas on October 7th and isstill being held hostage in Gaza
.
Yotam has worked tirelessly tosecure the release of his
brother and all of the remaininghostages.
(00:25):
Every day that goes by withouttheir release, these hostages
are at greater risk of tortureor death, and this episode
serves as a critical reminderthat every hostage has a family
and a community that isanxiously waiting for their
return.
And while we celebrate Passoverand commemorate the Jewish
people's liberation from slaveryin Egypt, we should remember
that too many of us are not yetfree.
(00:45):
Hayotam, welcome to the IsraelPolicy Pod.
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Our pleasure.
We're speaking under veryunfortunate circumstances, but
we want to bring to light allthe work you're doing to secure
the release of Nimrod and all ofthe remaining hostages in Gaza.
I was hoping you would start bytelling us a little bit about
who your brother is and anythingyou want us to know about.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
So my little brother in Watkoim was kidnapped on the
7th of October.
He was an IDF soldier stationedat the southern part of the
Israeli-Gaza border between thetwo villages Nirim and Niraz.
He was a tank crew member,stationed there with his platoon
.
It was the tank remember,stationed there with his platoon
.
On that morning, the 7th ofOctober, saturday, they woke up
(01:29):
to the sirens like half of.
Israel and being combat soldierswith the tank.
They rushed to the border, tothe bridge, on the fence, to
shield the villages, to putthemselves as a physical barrier
, because those terrorists werealready storming the villages
and massacring and kidnappingthe civilians behind the front
lines, they put themselves.
(01:50):
Unfortunately, they weremassively outnumbered Only the
four of them and my brother andthree others against between two
to three hundred terrorists.
They were massively outnumberedand their tank the tank engine
was sabotaged.
They were massively outnumberedand their tank the tank engine
was sabotaged.
So the tank was starting to geton fire and they had to open up
the hatches in order to getsome fresh air, and the
(02:13):
terrorists managed to pull themout one by one.
Out of the four of them, mybrother was the only one to
survive that day.
The other three were killed andexecuted, but all four of them
were taken hostages my brotheralive, and the other three.
Their bodies were also taken.
(02:34):
This happened at around 7, 7.30am in the morning.
It was more than a year and ahalf ago.
My brother was 19 at the time.
He's now 20.
And the entire abduction wasfilmed by Hamas that morning and
was uploaded to social media asa part of their psychological
(02:55):
terror effort.
And so we saw everything thatmorning.
And ever since, we know thatNimrod is alive and we've been
anxiously waiting for his returnMe, my little sister, nimrod's
twin her name is Romy and ourtwo parents.
We've all been doing everythingwe could, but unfortunately it
hasn't been enough yet when didyou know that he had been taken
(03:17):
captive?
We saw the first pictures byHamas.
I think the first picture everto be seen was the one of the
burning tank, and so werecognized it was Nimrod's.
But the first, I think thefirst evidence that made us sure
was a video posted around 12 inthat morning showing the entire
(03:39):
abduction, and so we could seeNimrod's face and we knew for
sure that he was the one to bearrested.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And your families received some signs of life.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
This was the initial evidence Two days after the IDF
officers came to our house todeclare that Nimrod is
officially a hostage.
Ever since, we got multiplelife signs from returning
hostages.
The first ones were fromhostages who came back on the
first hostage deal on November23.
(04:09):
Two of them saw him in thetunnels in captivity, and I
think that the most recent andthe most, I think, dominant ones
were from the so-called firstphase, the recent hostage deal,
from three hostages who cameback and could tell us in detail
(04:30):
the actual period of staying incaptivity and how Nimrod has
been doing.
And I think a month ago, hamashas posted a video from
captivity before the release ofone of the hostages and his
departure from from captivityand him saying goodbye to his
brother, and we couldn'trecognize him more than this
video.
Although his face was blurred,we recognized a tattoo he has on
(04:54):
his right arm, and so we coulddetermine that this is any more
than a video and it was thefirst and only visual life sign
we have received.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
I know that you and your family have been very
actively engaging with manygovernments, including the
Israeli government, to try topush them to make a deal to
secure the release of yourbrother and, of course, all of
the others.
What has that been like?
Has there been any progress onthat front?
Of course we talk about this alot in the podcast, neri and I
that you know.
Every few weeks we get somesort of hopeful sign, but
(05:26):
sometimes it works out.
Oftentimes it doesn't, ofcourse.
So I'm wondering what sort ofprogress has been made or any
holdups you're seeing?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
So first we have to say that most of the heart
disease are released fromcaptivity.
So, even though our struggle isyet to end for many other
families, they receive theirloved ones.
So in the general sense I thinkthere is a progress in this
bigger problem For us especially.
Imorod, being a soldier, waskidnapped as a soldier.
(05:57):
We knew right from the startthat Imorod was going to be one
of the last hostages to bereleased, especially in the
living hostages category,because it is a symbol being a
soldier in captivity.
Right from the beginning, ourfamily, we've advocated for a
bigger, a comprehensive hostagedeal.
(06:18):
We've been saying right fromthe start that Israel should
make one, a single hostage dealto ensure the release of all the
hostages and, in return, endthe war.
Unfortunately, we're seeingthat the Israeli government is
limiting the negotiation talksonly to partial deals.
That would not guarantee theend of the war and therefore
(06:41):
will not bring anyone home.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
We've been saying.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I think, right after the first few months, that there
is no actual intention forIsrael to get all the hostages
and end the war.
From what we've been seeing andunderstanding, israel is trying
to prolong the war for whatwe're seeing right now,
endlessly and without an actualgoal.
(07:04):
This is why, especially ourfamily, we've been very vocal,
trying to promote and advocatefor both in Israel and outside
Israel for the idea of endingthe war, putting as much public
pressure as possible.
Fortunately, right now we'venot been successful yet.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Do you feel the support of the Israeli public
and the people?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I think that this is a huge point of light.
I think a point of hope for us.
We are seeing all the recentpolls in Israel in the major
broadcasting or media channelssaying that between 67 and
70-something percent the vastmajority, almost 75% of Israelis
(07:53):
are ending the risk of all thehostages and ending the war.
So we're seeing this very mucha stable statistics.
In the past two weeks and inthe past week we're seeing a new
phenomenon of soldiers inreserve in the IDF or military
personnel who were high-rankingofficers, were high-ranking
(08:15):
officers both in the army andother security agencies and the
Israeli police with open letterspublicly stating that they want
the end of the war and therelease of all the hostages.
And it started from one letterthat was published by former air
pilots.
This was the first letter.
(08:35):
We're now at the 16th letter byI can't remember there are so
many and it counts in the tensof thousands of people release
of all hostages.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
And he's actually held direct talks with Hamas and
of course, he had some successsecuring the release in the
beginning of his when he tookoffice.
(09:07):
So curious how you perceiveAmerica's role in these hostage
negotiations.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
So I think that everybody in Israel understood
that the Americans have a bigrole to play in this negotiation
.
At first, I'd like to say thatfor me, as an Israeli citizen,
this is very unfortunate.
The only government that owesme so-called owes me something
is really the government.
(09:33):
I, as an Israeli citizen, haverights as an Israeli citizen and
I should, I think, come to mygovernment with demands and
requests.
The reason, my brother beingone of them, the fact that we,
as Israeli citizens I'm abrother of an IDF soldier who
was kidnapped during active dutyhave to go to other countries
(09:54):
and to plead to foreign leadersand foreign elected officials to
help me in my eternal strugglein Israel, says how dire the
situation is.
We had very high hopes whenTrump entered office and I think
in some sort of way, hedelivered releasing 38 hostages,
most of them living hostages,which is something that cannot
(10:15):
be put aside.
It's a very important thing,and two days ago, my father
returned from New York.
We're still, even these days,trying to do whatever we can to
ensure more so-called foreignpressure on our government,
because we believe that this isthe only thing that can result
(10:36):
in the release of my brother,and I hope that we'll see some
results in the future.
But again it is very sad for meas an Israeli citizen.
I understand my governmentsimply doesn't care enough about
my brother's well-being, thatwe need other so-called agents
or other forces to do somethingabout this, but this is the
(10:57):
situation we're in right now.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Okay, and we'll be right back after this brief
message to theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict,
(11:19):
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relations and regional diplomacy.
Among policymakers andcommunity leaders, we promote
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engage and educate leadersacross the political,
denominational and generationalspectrums.
Our Young ProfessionalsInitiative, ipf-ateev, works to
elevate the discourse amongnext-generation leaders by
(11:40):
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(12:01):
show notes.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
What sort of pressure has your father been asking for
?
What was his experience liketraveling to the States?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
I think the experience is very positive when
we go to other countries abroad, especially in the US.
People are very polite, verynice, very lovely, which is
something that cannot be saidabout meetings with Israeli
officials better in ourgovernment.
What sort of pressure werequire?
(12:37):
And the same pressure that hasbeen put by Trump that resulted
in the first phase of thehostage deal.
Trump threatening even bothsides, both Hamas and Israel,
saying you have a deadline toreach a hostage deal.
The first deadline was the 20thof January, the day of Trump's
entering office, and we saw thatin that exact same day a deal
(13:00):
was signed and I hope to see.
I think the most positiveoutcome right now is to see more
pressure like this Trump'sgiving a deadline and we see
both sides sort of making theway towards it.
And I think it's only massivepressure on both sides, both on
Israel's side and Hamas' side,with the mediators who pressure
(13:20):
on Egypt and Qatar to get thisdeal and pressure on Israel to
agree for ending the war.
This is the only thing thatwill result in a hostage deal
and this is what we've beenasking all along the way, with
partial success.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
How do you perceive the role of Qatar and Egypt in
all of this?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Because of course, they are pretty active players
in the negotiations too.
I won't say an enemy state, butnot so friendly of a state.
They've been the mediators andwe need them to get these
thoughts that you do.
Apart from that, I don't seeany special connection with them
.
We've been asking both in theUS and countries in Europe to
(14:13):
put more pressure on themediators, because they have
such good relations with Hamas,to get them to some sort of an
agreeing point somewhere in themiddle.
But behind that, me as a smallcitizen, I have no idea what is
really going on behind closeddoors.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
What's your relationship with the other
families been like?
I imagine there's some sort ofcommunity that you've built.
Do you go together to protest?
Do you go together on thesetours of the United States and
to speak with Israeli leaders?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
So at first there were more than 250 hostages.
There were a lot of families,but as the time went on the
amount of hostages in captivityhas decreased.
So right now there are only 59hostages.
And so we are a small communityof families of hostages.
We've been knowing each otherfor about a year and a half and
(15:04):
so we're some sort of acommunity, a big family of sorts
.
For us, nimrod being a soldier,we have the even smaller
sub-community of the families ofthe soldier hostages.
We're going together to all themeetings with the Minister of
Defense, with the Chief of Staffof the IDF.
(15:25):
So this is our sub-communityand everybody belongs to a small
sub-community those who arekidnapped from the Novo Festival
, the hostages from the villages, from the kibbutzim.
Each kibbutz has its owncommunity, but we operate, I
think, in this big community offamily hostages.
Just Saturday night was thePassover evening and we had this
(15:53):
dinner in the hostage squarewith other hostage families,
simply to be together becausewe've become such a big family.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Do you find that there are very differing
opinions regarding the contoursof a deal?
What risk sacrifices Israelshould be making?
What sort of pressure, or arepeople mostly aligned?
Speaker 2 (16:11):
I think that at the beginning, there were various
point of views regarding whatshould be done, especially
regarding the fact that eachfamily had their own political
view and political opinionregarding what should be done.
But I think that in this pointof time I wouldn't say all the
families, but the vast majorityof the families agree or
(16:33):
understand the simple fact thatwe won't see all the hostages,
especially the living ones, athome without ensuring the end of
the war.
And so even those who find thispill hard to swallow or
politically disagree with thisnotion, simply understood or,
let's say, gave in to thisreality and so that, if they
(16:55):
want to see their son at home,they have to call for the end of
the war, even if it's hard.
And I think that, putting asideone, two, three families who
are strongly against this forpolitical and religious reasons,
the other families areadvocating for ending the war.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
That makes a lot of sense.
I think at the beginning of thewar, many of us were under the
impression that advancing a warcould help release the hostages
and that sort of pressure couldwork, and at this point I think
most of us know that'sunfortunately not, or for better
or worse, it's just no longerthe case and that a deal is
really the only method that canachieve what we want.
I'm curious what message youwant to convey to the
(17:31):
international community, anypolicymakers, about the
importance of resolving thehostage crisis.
Obviously this is very personalfor you, but it also fits into
a broader geopolitical contextas well.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Of course, I have a cold skin in the game because my
brother is a hostage, but whatwe've been trying to convey to
world leaders is that, incontrary to what our government
is saying, the vast majority ofIsraelis is pro-ending the war.
70% of Israelis want animmediate ceasefire and simply
(18:07):
ending the war, because theyunderstand that nothing good
will come by continuing the war.
The vast majority of Israelisand our government is doing the
exact opposite trying to prolongthe war at any price and in
doing so, resulting in morehostages killed, more civilians
(18:27):
on both sides killed.
And we want the world to knowthat the Israeli people want
peace and want to rehabilitatethe region, want to rehabilitate
the state of Israel, and we, asIsraeli, know that this cannot
be done without the release ofthe hostages, because the
release of the hostages is thefirst phase in a bigger rebuild
(18:49):
and we want peace at the end ofthe day and we want to eradicate
Hamas.
But we understand this can nolonger happen with military
pressure.
Like you said at the beginning,at the start of the war, 100%
of the families werepro-military pressure.
I was a big supporter of themilitary pressure% of the
families were pro-militarypressure.
I was a big supporter of themilitary pressure, to say the
least.
But we've understood thereality is very different and
(19:12):
what I want the world people,the world leaders, to know is
that when they call to the endof the war and for the immediate
ceasefire, they have to knowthat they have the people of
Israel agreeing them andsupporting them, even though our
government says otherwise.
And our government for mostparts, especially in this part
(19:34):
does not reflect the will of theIsraeli people and its opinion.
This is the most importantthing for us to convey.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
How has your relationship been with Israeli
media?
Have you felt supported by them?
Have you been in manyconversations with them?
Speaker 2 (19:45):
I think that after 7th of October, we found
ourselves public figures whoseopinions are looked after, and
we found ourselves being we'vebeen finding ourselves in all
the major broadcasting channelsand studios, which is a very
weird feeling to switch from avery private person to a public
(20:08):
figure with a public opinion.
I think that generally, themedia channels are very
supportive.
You can see the people behindthis.
The actual reporters take thisvery close to heart and actually
feel us and feel our pain.
They've been chatting with usand talking to us very
personally how can they do moreand what else can be done, and
(20:30):
we had the feeling that theywill do whatever needed to aid
us in our struggle and to helpus.
Although having all theseinterviews in the Israel media
channels is very exhausting andvery tiring to jump between
studios, the actual sense ofsupport is very much ensuring.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Let me ask you directly.
We work with the AmericanJewish community and
policymakers in Washington.
What's important for us to know?
And I'll ask specifically aboutthe American Jewish community,
how can we be supportive?
Speaker 2 (21:01):
I think that when we speak to Jewish communities both
in the US and also in Europe, Ialmost get the feeling that
they're sometimes misinformed ormiseducated about what is
really going on inside Israel,about the inside politics of
Israel and even the fact that Isaid 70% of Israel support the
end of the war.
(21:22):
When we tell this to Jews bothin the US and in Europe, they're
very much surprised about it.
They say how can this happen?
The other side, the Palestinianside or the Hamas side, is the
side that should logically tothem, should support the
ceasefire and the end of the war, and the Israel side should be
(21:43):
the one saying we cannot stopthe war.
The Israeli side should be theone saying we cannot stop the
war.
This is what we've been tryingto educate as much as possible,
what is really going on insideIsraeli politics, and I urge
everyone who takes this close toheart and really cares about
the Israeli people and Jewishpeople in general, really do
(22:03):
your searching and read as muchas possible Israeli media,
israeli articles to know what isreally going on, because what
is happening inside Israel doesnot reflect what you see outside
of Israel and all those whowant to support the Israeli
people and really want tosupport the state of Israel not
the government of Israel shouldhelp us and especially us as
(22:26):
hostage families, should helppromoting the idea of a
ceasefire and ending the war.
Of course we're releasing allthe hostages because, from what
we understand, these things arecoming together, always come
together ceasefire and thehostage deal and the state of
Israel is being in an ongoingwar for a year and a half.
(22:46):
Both states of Israel and Ithink it's important to say that
the civilians, the Palestiniancivilians in Gaza.
I think that, at the end of theday, we need this region to
heal and we need to buildsomething sustainable, because
from the 7th of October, ourpeople has been in an ongoing
war without any chance to healor rehabilitate or even rest for
(23:09):
a little.
Every couple of days, there aremissiles entering Israel and
there are terrorists, there areterror attacks and there are
more soldiers dying in thesemultiple fronts.
We're managing.
It's very.
I think it's the most importantthing for Israel right now is
to end the war and rethink howwe're managing.
I think it's the most importantthing for Israel right now is
to end the war and rethink howwe're not destroying things, but
how are we going to build?
Speaker 1 (23:30):
And I'll just share on the public opinion polling
that in Israeli media.
You see almost weekly pollingon the major news channels of
the Israeli public opinionsaround the war and a hostage
ceasefire deal.
They are often not translatedinto English, although you can
find them somewhere, but I justthink it's important to say
perhaps some of the source ofthe miscommunication.
Thank you so much for your time, Yotam.
If there's anything else youwant to share, please do.
(23:52):
I will just say it's been aprivilege to be able to platform
your voice and make sure thatyou are heard and your story is
heard and, of course, we'realways thinking and talking
about and praying for andprotesting for across
communities the release of allthe hostages, including Nimrod.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Thanks again to Yotam Cohen for sharing his brother
Nimrod's story and hisperspective on the hostage
family's ongoing struggle tobring their loved ones home.
59 Israelis remain in captivityafter an unimaginable 558 days.
This Passover, as we rememberthe exodus from Egypt, we should
also reflect on the joyousreunions of the hostages who did
return home to their familiesthis past year, and we pray that
(24:31):
all the hostages remaining incaptivity are going to see
freedom in the year to come.
Special thanks to our producer,jacob Gilman, and all of you
who support Israel PolicyForum's work.
Please like and rate thispodcast and subscribe if you
don't already, and Israel PolicyForum's work.
Please like and rate thispodcast and subscribe if you
don't already, and do considermaking a tax-deductible donation
to Israel Policy Forum so wecan keep being a credible source
of analysis and ideas on issuessuch as these that we all care
(24:52):
very deeply about.
Most importantly, thank you forlistening and chag sameach to
all those celebrating.
Thank you.
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