Mother of Hamas Hostage: Death of Hostages Shouldn’t Have Happened

TURNER: “Orna joins us. Orna, thank you for taking time with us today, on what I am sure is an especially difficult week for you. I want to know how you are doing, how you are feeling, how you and your husband are holding up, and then also, of course, what your reaction is to the latest slaughter by Hamas?”
NEUTRA: “It has been completely devastating getting the news from Israel. Over the course of the past 11 months, we have been fighting alongside some of these families, especially the family of Hersh Goldberg Pollin, who was also an American citizen, and it is just heartbreaking. You know, we’ve been doing so much. We’ve been doing our share to make sure the issue is not forgotten, to fight for our kids. This shouldn’t have happened. You know, the writing was on the wall. We kept saying this is urgent, that this deal needs to be signed as soon as possible, that military activity is not enough. And here we are. Here we are. These are six people that shouldn’t have died. At least three of them were supposed to come out. And the first stage of this deal that has been discussed, and as Hersh’s mom said today, they felt in a visceral way that this was going to happen, that they were going to be reunited with their son, and we really believed it, and this is just heartbreaking.”
TURNER: “Well, I know that you and your husband, who I had the privilege of interviewing a couple of months ago, have done an incredible job of keeping Omer’s name alive in the press, keeping attention on him here in the American administration, overseas in the Israeli administration. I know that your family was part of the group that met with the National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan earlier in the week. Did you hear a message of hope from him? What did he tell you?”
NEUTRA: “Well, we heard from him exactly what the president said today, that they are in the final stages of coming up with a deal that they are hoping that Hamas and Israel will accept. To be honest, you know, we have — we have to keep up hope, but we are skeptical. We’re not seeing Hamas or Israel come to the table seriously enough or willing to sign the deal. And unfortunately, we completely identify with our brothers and sisters in Israel who are out in the streets, who don’t feel that their own government is doing enough to release the hostages. And in Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement about annihilating Hamas as a top priority, we are not hearing exactly how that will bring our loved ones home.”
TURNER: “Negotiating with terrorists is always a very intricate and challenging process. I want to ask you, before I let you go, if you have a message for Omer, for his captives, if anybody is indeed listening to us tonight?”
NEUTRA: “Well, if any one of the captives and my son is listening to us, you know, I will carry Rachel’s torch and tell my son Omer that, I love you, we all love you, we are fighting for you and begging you to survive until we are able to finally bring you out.”
TURNER: “We are. That was beautifully said. We all, certainly here, are praying for his recovery and for him to stray strong as well. Thank you so much for taking time with us. Our thoughts and our prayers and our hearts are with you.”
NEUTRA: “Thank you so much.”