Israeli Hostage's Father: 'We're Second-class Citizens in a Fascist Country'
Yuval Or, whose son was murdered on October 7 and whose body remains in Gaza, says he wasn't surprised when he was informed in May that his son was dead: Netanyahu, 'heartless as he is, wouldn't bring back any additional hostages, because he's interested in war. He understood that a war would keep him in power'
Yuval Or. "There are many good people here, but this country is no longer ours. It's been hijacked by the religious and the fascists."
At the age of 73, and after an unbearably difficult year, Yuval Or, whose son Dror Or was murdered on October 7 in Be'eri and whose body is still held in Gaza, is preparing for another drastic change in his life: moving from his kibbutz, Re'im, to Kibbutz Hatzerim, where he will join the Be'eri community that has made a temporary home there.
Joining the Be'eri community is intended to support the children of Dror and his wife, Yonat, who was also murdered that Saturday. The children, Noam and Alma, who were 16 and 13 at the time of the attack, were kidnapped to Gaza and released in a deal 50 days later. Since then, Yuval and his wife Dorit have been raising their grandchildren, and their lives revolve around them.
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Noam, who has now entered 12th grade, moved to live with his friends in Moshav Ein Habesor. "He's staying with a family he loves very much; they've set up a kind of commune there," describes the grandfather. Yehli, the eldest son of Dror and Yonat (who was not at the kibbutz on the day of the massacre), has returned to Be'eri. In the coming weeks, Yuval and Dorit will receive the key to their new home in Hatzerim and join their younger granddaughter.
The family only received confirmation of Dror's death in May. Or says the news came as somewhat of a relief and that he wasn't particularly surprised since he had expected the worst. "I thought that Bibi wouldn't bring back a single hostage. Certainly not after he blew up the deals that were on the way," he says, referring to the continuation of the phases of the deal that went into effect at the end of November last year. Liam, another of Yuval's grandchildren, was kidnapped from Re'im and returned in the latest phase of the deal. "It was clear to me that this man, heartless as he is, wouldn't bring back any additional hostages, because he's interested in war. He understood that a war would keep him in power."
"When the family was informed that Dror had been murdered, I finally understood that I would never see him again. You have to say goodbye to someone whom you know is no longer alive, and you at least want to bury him." Or describes the hardship of his three grandchildren, who lost both parents at once, their home, and were "uprooted from the area where they had lived their entire lives. It's terrible." He adds, "But my grandchildren are incredible, amazing people. They are strong. Alma, a 14-year-old girl who was orphaned, is really strong; she's really something. She keeps after her brothers, she goes to volleyball. We go on living, we're doing all we can. We cling to life."
Or then shifts from the personal to the political: "We lost the country along the way, too. It's no longer ours. We're second-class citizens here, guests in a foreign, fascist country. There are many good people here, but this country is no longer ours. It's been hijacked by the religious and the fascists."
He says that these feelings have been with him for a long time and are only intensifying. "Every moment, I find more justification for why this feels foreign to me. I can't understand how someone who tells a hostage's family member to 'make it short,' is even allowed to be a member of parliament," he said, referring to MK David Bitan who said the same thing to a family member of a hostage while she was testifying in the Knesset.
"It's the height of chutzpah, arrogance, hubris, revolting behavior and evil. The fringe of a poisonous machine aimed against us – a sacred alliance between [slain Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar and Bibi. An alliance between people aiming to uproot us – one side from here, the other from there. The common denominator is that they're both ultranationalists."
Out of despair, anger, and the will to keep on living, Or wants to send a message of peace. "Hamas did the worst of all possible things to me, and still, I am one of those who believe that all the plans for revenge and flattening Gaza are like putting out a fire with gasoline. I still think, even more strongly, that the only way – which nobody talks about and which we keep moving further from – is to sit down and talk, to find a way to make peace. Peace is made with enemies."
"We aren't doing it because extremists control both them and us," he said. "If it were up to the people, we'd make peace. I'll never love those who did what they did to me, but I have to find a way to live in peace with them, despite everything."
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