My son, Itay Chen, a US-Israeli citizen, has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for almost 700 days. Each day that passes without his release has been indescribable agony for our family. What makes it harder still is knowing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has chosen to prolong this war instead of making a deal that could bring my son – and 49 other hostages – home.
For Americans, this may sound familiar. Fifty years ago, president Richard Nixon prolonged the Vietnam War for two unnecessary years. He did it not for strategic reasons, but for politics. He wanted to look strong. He wanted to win a second term. The cost was more than 8,000 American lives, lost in the name of paranoia and political ambition.
Netanyahu is Israel’s Nixon. He has put politics ahead of people, survival ahead of strategy. His promise to “destroy Hamas” is as empty as Nixon’s “peace with honor.” Israel’s own generals acknowledge Hamas cannot be eliminated militarily in the near future. The IDF chief of staff reportedly said just this past week: “There is a deal on the table, and it should be taken now.”
Netanyahu is avoiding a deal
Netanyahu refuses to end the fighting without a Hamas white flag, save countless lives in Gaza, and bring relief to families like mine and to the entire nation of Israel: a deal for the release of all the hostages, a pause to the war, and the beginning of national rehabilitation after two years of trauma catalyzed by October 7.
And who’s footing the bill for this political intransigence? Just as in Vietnam, America is bankrolling a huge part of this war. Since October 7, US taxpayers have sent billions of dollars in military aid to Israel. Every extra day of this war drags the United States deeper into a regional conflict it neither wants nor can afford.
This is not in America’s interest. President Donald Trump has spoken of stability, normalization, and prosperity in the Middle East. The Gaza war achieves none of these. It damages the US reputation worldwide, strengthens Iran, blocks the possibility of historic normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, and fuels anger toward America across the Muslim world.
The parallels between Netanyahu and Nixon
Nixon blamed the radical Left and the media for his failures. Netanyahu has adopted the same script, pointing fingers at Israel’s media, the hostage movement, Democrats in Washington, and anyone else who questions his judgment. The truth is simpler: he is a leader clinging desperately to power, prolonging a war to shield himself from accountability – and from the criminal trials awaiting him.
At least Nixon had Henry Kissinger, who helped end the 1973 Yom Kippur War and paved the way for peace with Egypt. Netanyahu’s top confidant is Ron Dermer – remembered in Washington as the official who helped funnel Qatari money to Hamas, money that fueled the October 7 attack. Where Kissinger built peace, Dermer built the Hamas war machine America is now paying to dismantle.
The parallels are striking, and the stakes for America are once again unbelievably high. Netanyahu’s refusal to prioritize a hostage deal keeps US citizens like my son in captivity. His endless war drains American resources, distracts from urgent global priorities such as Ukraine and Iran, and jeopardizes Trump’s legacy.
Nixon’s legacy is remembered with shame: a corrupt, paranoid leader who prolonged an unwinnable war, blamed others for his failures, and left office disgraced. Netanyahu is steering us toward the same fate – hated by most of his own people, distrusted by allies, remembered for being at the helm of his country during the deadliest attack against Jews since the Holocaust, and since then, for sacrificing lives for his political survival.
America must not go down with him. President Trump has the power to change Bibi’s course. Americans should not write blank checks for Netanyahu’s political machinations. They should insist first on a deal that frees the hostages.
Mr. President, now is the time to keep your promise of freeing the hostages – as well as fulfilling your obligation to my family by bringing my son, a US citizen, back home. For me, this is not theory or history. My family has been shattered, waiting nearly two years for our dinner table to be whole again.
There are times when history offers leaders a mirror. Sometimes it reflects greatness. Sometimes it reveals tragedy and pettiness. In Benjamin Netanyahu’s case, the reflection is that of Nixon – a man who had the diplomatic acumen to achieve great things like he did with China, but whose self-serving protraction of a senseless war came at the cost of thousands of American lives, and who ultimately left office despised and disgraced. The question now is whether the American people will keep paying a similar price while Netanyahu clings to power.
The writer is the father of hostage Sgt. Itay Chen, killed and abducted by Hamas on October 7, 2023.