LONDON – Two hostage families with British familial citizenship links met with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in London on Wednesday and learned about the work going into making a deal possible.
Sunak carries hostage dog tags with him in his pocket and keeps them on his desk – to “remind him of the importance of bringing them home,” he told the hostages' families.
“I think it was helpful to be able to look the prime minister in the eye and the Qatari minister and make that personal connection so that they are aware this is about families and people,” said Briton Stephen Brisley, whose sister, Lianne Sharabi, and teenage nieces, Noiya and Yahel, were murdered at Kibbutz Be’eri, at a press conference on Wednesday.
He has devoted his time to helping in the campaign to save his hostage brother-in-law, Eli Sharabi, as well as getting the body of Eli’s brother, Yossi, who was murdered in captivity, returned. He was accompanied by Eli and Yossi’s brother, Sharon, and brother-in-law, Raz Matalon.
Brisley said, “Both the British government and the Qataris have made clear that they are focusing all their efforts on prioritizing the safe return of the hostages. This will happen first. The prime minister made it clear the hostages are always on his mind, and he explained to us that he carried a set of the ‘Bring them Home’ dog tags in his pocket and kept them on his desk to remind him of the importance of bringing them home.
“We have trust in them, but we need to see results. There shouldn’t have to be a deal to bring them home. It is quite clear that the holding of these hostages is against all international law, holding civilians hostage. Ironically, the people they have taken were those with the greatest sympathy for Gaza and Palestine and did a lot to employ them and provide assistance to them.”
The press conference was held in the office of London law firm Mishcon de Reya, which was made famous for representing Princess Diana. Lawyers there have been working pro bono to ensure the government does everything in its power to help the hostages and, in particular, British citizens.
There are two fully British citizens held hostage – they have not been named – as well as Eli and 83-year-old journalist and peace activist Oded Lifshitz, who was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Their daughter, Sharon, lives in London and holds British and Israeli citizenship. His wife, Yocheved, was released at the end of October for ‘humanitarian reasons.’
With a new possible deal on the table, requiring many sacrifices from Israel, both families said they believed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had no choice but to sign a deal.
“There shouldn’t have to be a deal – Hamas could release more of them for humanitarian reasons. Why do they need to hold elderly people?” asked Sharon. “But I know a lot of people are doing a lot of work to bring them home. It will take sacrifice, it will take political craftsmanship, and we need that to happen now because if we have to wait any longer, the hostages simply cannot survive.”
‘Contract between Israeli government and people broken on October 7’
“I don’t think Israel has another option. I think the contract between the government and the people, based on their safety, was broken on October 7. Israel has had to exchange prisoners for hostages before, and I know it is a difficult choice. But at the same time, I don’t think it has a choice; the hostages must be returned.”
She said she spent some time with the Qatari minister, who explained to her the delicate negotiations over pausing the war to secure the release of the hostages. “There is a lot of discussion about stabilizing the situation to ensure that this pause in the fighting holds. There was discussion about how they have to be creative about it and the importance of the deal not breaking down like it did last time. So, we are encouraged but aware that it is a very delicate situation.”
Stephen added: “It is abundantly clear that the hostages have to be brought home whatever has to be done. The price of failure was written largely in Yossi’s death. The hostages don’t have long to live; we know that, and everything that can be done to bring them home safely and alive must be done.”
Revealing the agony of seeing the death of Yossi over two horrifically teasing Hamas videos, he added: “You may have seen the videos that Hamas released taunting our family; the psychological terror they visited upon us in addition to the physical terror they inflicted upon our families. They put out videos that mocked us – treated Yossi’s life as though it were a game show.
“After 24 hours of mental torture, we received a second video in which Yossi’s body was clearly shown. I’ve seen that video many times. I’ve zoomed in on it. It’s quite clear he was executed. This is what failure looks like; the failure of international diplomacy. These are the stakes.
“The phrase life and death are thrown around about all kinds of things, but it is the case here. If this current deal doesn’t bring the hostages home, there is a very real chance that they will never come home.”