OPINION: Ongoing war in Gaza a bigger danger for hostages than Palestine recognition

My family is one of 42 whose loved ones were taken to Gaza alive and murdered there. We failed to save them. The world failed to save them. 48 hostages are still held in Gaza, 20 still alive who can be saved. We know how it feels to fight for your family member, in my case, for my father, Oded Lifshitz – and fail. I wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone, so we keep on fighting for all of them.

My mother, Yocheved Lifshitz, was also taken hostage but freed after 17 days but, in her words, she is still in Gaza with the hostages, stuck in captivity and unable to move forward until they too come home.

I understand and even share some the concerns of many in our communities that the British and other governments have recognised a Palestinian state while Hamas continues to hold the hostages who it starves and tortures. All governments need to do more to pressurise Hamas to release them, the UK included. Sir Keir Starmer has said that his government will introduce sanctions against Hamas. This should be done immediately. There is no time left.

Yet I do not see the recognition given by Britain, Canada, Australia, France and others as the primary obstacle to the release of hostages. And I do not see the actions of Israel’s government as blameless in bringing it about.

Most hostage families I know now believe that the Israeli government is willing to sacrifice the hostages. They are horrified by the offensive on Gaza City, going ahead despite the warning of the IDF chief that it puts the hostages’ lives at risk. This week, and on the eve of Rosh Hashana, hostage families have stood outside the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem pleading for him to hear their pain and demanding a hostage deal before it’s too late. Not once did Netanyahu or his wife come to talk to them. My community of Nir Oz has already lost 63 people. We are desperate and have already lost so much. We cannot face failing to save those of us who remain captive, including Eithan Horn, Matan Zangauker and David and Ariel Kunio who are believed to be alive.

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, spoke last week of a Gaza “real-estate bonanza”, as if the hostages don’t exist, and two million Palestinians will conveniently disappear. How have we reached a point at which land matters more than human lives? Those of us who don’t share this disregard for life must ensure these extremists don’t control our future. The vision put forward by Smotrich and his colleagues is not Jewish – it’s grotesque and inhumane. And Netanyahu, for his own political survival, seems ready to enable it.

If we want all 48 hostages back and to alleviate the immense suffering of the people of Gaza, we must end this war. If we want the last hostage to return we need a plan for what happens after Israel withdraws. Israel has fought a war but refused to advance a plan for the future. Now Israel’s allies are attempting to come up with one.

The same Israeli government that told us “Hamas is an asset” now wants to settle Gaza and transfer Palestinians out of it. Israel’s government has offered no better plan so the international community is attempting to fill the vacuum. My father, who believed in peace but was not a pacifist and was always clear that Hamas were despicable jihadist terrorists also believed this: it is better to choose agreements than have them forced upon you. As long as all Israel’s prime minister offers is endless war it is inevitable that others will propose alternatives.

Earlier this month, Sir Keir Starmer and Ambassador Simon Walters invited hostage families with British ties to meet. They explained why they would recognise a Palestinian state, not as a reward for Hamas but on the contrary, conditioned on Hamas not being part of any Palestinian political future and being disarmed. They reiterated that recognition is part of a wider effort to preserve a viable path towards a two-state solution and to strengthen moderates and weaken extremists.

Fear and scepticism are understandable. But the hostages will likely only return via a ceasefire agreement and an end to the war. And Hamas can only be truly defeated if an alternative exists. The continuation of war is putting the hostages in far greater danger than recognition of Palestine. Hamas has brought the hostages above ground, using them as human shields. That is the brutal reality: the hostages are in imminent danger, the Israeli government is willing to forsake them and the international community has had enough of the Israeli government’s refusal to put forward plans for the day after.

If the international community is working towards solutions to end this war and prevent further escalations, Israel should engage with them and attempt to shape “the day after” to its advantage. It should be looking for opportunities rather than decrying every international effort, even by allies, as an attack.

The British government has said Hamas is a murderous terrorist organisation and has no place in power. We therefore need to prepare others to take over governing Gaza, with support from moderate Arab countries. The Palestinian Authority, flawed as it is, will need to work in partnership with Israel and the international community. Britain and others who have granted recognition condition it on much needed reform of the PA.

But diplomacy is preferable to wars and essential to ending them. Israel’s safest borders, with Jordan and Egypt, were secured through painstaking diplomacy.

The Israeli Government has long since lost the support of most of its electorate. It is working  against the interests of the people of Israel. Hostage families and most of the Israeli public are pleading with our own government for one thing: a ceasefire and a hostage release deal. The pros and cons of UK government policy will not distract me from those goals.

I am not naïve. In fact it is more naïve to call for the release of hostages while supporting the continuation of this war. There are no perfect choices but there are better options if we wish to save our hostages, work for a safe and secure Israel and save the lives of Palestinian civilians. We need a change of direction from the messianic, fundamentalist madness of those more concerned with land and power than human lives.

There are legitimate concerns about the policy of the British and other Western governments. It is imperfect and may fail. But the policies of Israel’s anti-democratic and fundamentalist government are not even intended to succeed.

Hostage families have been begging the world for a life-saving diplomatic agreement. We have already spent 720 days in this fight for our loved ones. Time is running out and military escalation has not succeeded in freeing them. In a moment so chaotic and brutal, I urge all our communities not to automatically disregard the diplomatic options on the table, however imperfect they may be. And I urge those, like the UK, who have taken this step to do more – to do everything they can to demand of Hamas and those like Qatar who enable them – to get our people home.