ladies and gentlemen, i am grateful to welcome you today to the roundtable. i want to thank the families, the brave and courageous families who are with us today to discuss the hostages that have been kidnapped by hamas, and to show how important this

hearing is i am grateful that -- i have the opportunity to chair the committee but we actually are really fortunate to have the chairman of the foreign affairs committee and we have the ranking number texas republican greg meeks, democrat new york -- and it is significant that we have congressman all the way from rhode island -- thank you for being here and we are very fortunate to have so many people and then before i begin i also want to let everyone know that we have got virtually a full house members of congress, distinguished people like -- from new york. we also have i am grateful, congresswoman ileana ros- lehtinen who is visiting she is the former chairman of the foreign affairs committee and

comes -- thank you for being here. she being a cuban american herself, she understands the challenges of freedom and never to give up. with that in mind i will recognize myself for an opening statement and then we will have a statement by congresswoman kathy manning of north carolina and our chairman will make an opening statement and then we will proceed. with that, ladies and gentlemen and friends of israel thank you for joining us today for this sobering conversation following the horrific attack, invasion by the puppets of iran, the mass terrorists october 7. we appreciate the host families of abigail eden and -- -- who were

taken hostage, kidnapped by hamas terrorists. first, we are overjoyed the 4- year-old whose parents were murdered by the hamas terrorists have been released. we thank the family members of these hostages who are here today to speak about the nightmare their families are enduring as they fight for the release of their loved ones. on october 7, the world witnessed and israel experienced the deadliest mass murders of jewish people since the holocaust. hamas terrorists not only killed israeli civilians but americans and citizens from ireland to germany to russia to thailand to argentina have been murdered or kidnapped. hamas terrorists murdered over 1200 israelis in cold blood and kidnapped over 240 innocent people, holding them as hostages under inhumane and barbaric conditions.

this hatred is not just shocking, hamas outlined their plans in the 1988 covenant stating their intentions for the world and that is quote, the day of judgment will not come about until his limbs fight jewish people, when they hide behind stones and trees, the stones and trees will say -- their is a -- behind me, come and kill him,". it is so tragic indeed hamas made it perfectly clear what they intended to do and it is a declaration of genocide against people of jewish heritage. we must work tirelessly to bring home every hostage, bring them home from the murderous terrorists who kidnapped them. we know the civilian deaths in gaza are human shields with iranian, but hamas terrorists solely responsible for the tragic deaths in gaza today. hamas terrorists puppets of the

iranian regime 60s break the spirits of those they seek to destroy but they will not succeed. we are united in our mission to free all hostages from actively hamas puppets of the regime in tehran. your presence here today sent a strong message of unity and unbreakable spirit. visited with prime minister benjamin netanyahu in jerusalem in august to reassure the people of israel of american support in face of the iranian regime. today, we are joined by -- the parents of the hostage omar -- and israeli defense force soldier being held hostage by hamas. omar is 22 years old fromed his to binghamton university in new

york to serve in the idf. we are also joined by ruby -- the father of -- who is also an idea of soldier who has been held hostage by hamas. he was a 19-year-old american citizen who was kidnapped from his base next to the -- near the border of gaza on october 7. he was an active -- on active duty as part of a tank unit when he was kidnapped by hamas. be sadly has not received proof of life for his son and the international red cross is not able to provide medical attention to him. for those of you who have members in the military, my oldest son served in iraq and my second served in baghdad as

a navy doctor and my third served in egypt. my fourth served in a year in afghanistan. i especially identified the horror of what you are addressing. finally, we are joined by -- the great aunt of 4-year-old abigail who was fortunately, released by hamas on sunday, november 26. they were in israel october 7 when abigail was brutally kidnapped by hamas after the mercilessly murdered both of her parents on october 7 in their home at the -- abigail was in her father's arms when he was shot and killed by hamas terrorists and taken hostage just three years of age. she turned four while in terrorist captivity. again, i along with the american people share in our attitude that your grandniece

was released over the weekend after 50 days of captivity and we are grateful she is once again with her family. we will not stop and again joined by the leadership of the foreign affairs committee, until the remaining hostages, including an estimated nine americans have been released. we appreciate the opportunity to hear your stories as we work together in support of your families and to fight for the release of your loved ones and all who are being held by the iranian puppets of hamas. with that, i now proceed in recognizing congresswoman kathy manning from north carolina. >> thank you. thank you to the families for being here. we can only imagine what you are going through but, we are so deeply grateful you have come time and time again to share your stories with us. on october 7, we woke in horror to the brutal and despicable

terrorist attacks, firing rockets at innocent civilians, storming the border by air, land and sea, invading israel with a specific purpose of killing civilians and capturing civilians in they went house to house, murdering babies, executing parents in front of their children, massacring more than 250 young people at a music festival. in addition to the 1200 people that hamas killed that day, they took an estimated 240 innocent civilians hostage in gaza, including elderly women, children and babies. like so many of my colleagues, i have spent the past six weeks meeting with the families of the hostages. people like the siegel family from my state of north carolina whose relatives keith and -- were kidnapped and fortunately

she was released this weekend but keep is still captive. of course i met with each of you -- we are so grateful for you being here. i feel like you are all my extended family by now. i think about your loved ones every day and i talk about them as often as i can. because, just like you i want to make sure they are not forgotten with everything else going on in the world. and just like the stories of holocaust survivors, each one of your stories is unique. each story is heartbreaking because each of the hostages have loving family members whose lives have been torn apart, who were living with the agony of not knowing what has become of their loved ones. are they okay? are they healthy? are they injured? are they all right? and will you ever see them

again? i have heard stories that have brought me to tears, story that's haunt my dreams that should make all of us redouble our efforts to bring those hostages home. the past few days have seen significant breakthroughs in attempts to bring the hostages held by hamas home to their families. i applaud the efforts of the administration, israel, regional partners who have worked to makes -- released but there is much more work to be done. liz, we are so happy that abigail has been brought home. i want to say to those of you who have been happy with the other hostage families, you have watched their families reunited, i know how hard it must be for you to watch knowing your loved ones are still in places unknown and conditions unknown. we pray for you and we will be waiting to greet you with them someday in the future.

just yesterday i was proud to help lead the debate on the house floor on a bipartisan resolution we passed unanimously, demanding the release of the hostages. today is an important opportunity for all of our members to hear these stories and to redouble our efforts to do everything we possibly can to push for the remaining hostages, every single one of them to be released. and for the international committee of the red cross to be admitted to visit the hostages and countries around the world should join in demanding the immediate release of the remaining hostages. i want to mention how outrageous it is the red cross still has not been allowed in to meet with the hostages. we continue to call for the red cross to be allowed to meet with the hostages. thank you again to the chairman, to the chairman of the subcommittee to the chairman of the full committee and ranking member. thank you to all of our

colleagues for being here, we look forward to hearing from the families but most of all we look forward to bringing all the hostages home. >> thank you very much. this is, you are seeing actual proof of republicans and democrats working together united on behalf of the people of israel and on the behalf of the kidnapped hostages. we now proceed to the chairman of the foreman affairs committee. >> thank you. let me welcome you under such horrific circumstances. we stand united with you as americans on this committee. we put our partisanship aside. we always say it stops at the waters edge in i cannot help but feel the grief having traveled to israel in my father was a bombardier in world war

ii and they destroyed the nazis. and we uncovered the death camps and we always say never again. and here we are in this century in this time with the largest slaughtering of jews since the holocaust. i never thought i would see it in my lifetime. my father thought it but i never thought i would see it. there are covenants from the river to the sea that we will obliterate the state of israel, it really says it all. the hamas leader who was a prisoner himself who was released said i will continue to invade and slaughter jews again and again. until we win.

the united states is standing up to this. i will say i am proud of this administration for standing with israel. because we are americans first. and we need to bring more of our american hostages home. we have only brought one home. i credit the administration, leaders in congress. thank you to countries like qatar but we have to get our american citizens home into safety. the ranking member and i had the honor to travel to israel about a week ago and we met with prime minister netanyahu. we saw the horrific hamas video. showing, i have never seen the prime minister, who is a very stoic, strong man driven to tears, watching his own people

being killed in such a horrific manner. the slaughter of innocent jewish people. he will not rest until they are eradicated. not just for the jewish people but for the palestinians. only until we can free them from the palestinians, are the jewish people going to be free from terrorism and only until then, we have peace in the least, true peace. i think that is what the result of this horrific act was. but, i will not rest, i know the ranking member will not rest and members on this committee will not rest until we bring every american back home to the united states. i am so delighted that abigail made it at of that held --

hell. we were there with the brother of emily hands. a beautiful 9-year-old girl who was finally released but we need more. we passed the most bipartisan resolution in the history of the congress, condemning hamas and standing in support of the state of israel. more cosponsors than ever in the history of congress, which speaks volumes about were congress is. as you see these hamas protesters in the streets, know that the american people by the representatives support you and support the state of israel. i just want to close with, the mother who i met with not very long ago whose son is still in captivity. she said her son was a translation and hebrew was the son of light. she says you know, chairman,

lightness will defeat the darkness. i know it so. his lightness our lightness will defeat this darkness in gaza. this hell. this darkness of captivity will ultimately be defeated by light. that is really what this message is all about. thank you. >> thank you chairman mike mccall. we now proceed to ranking member greg meeks of new york. >> thank you. first, let me associate myself with remarks. -- your words, your thoughts are moving. and i think that you speak for all of us. let me say to the families

because as mr. mccall has said i have had the opportunity to go to israel recently. any time i see you you give me hope. that is why your presence here is so important. i really cannot imagine what you are going through. i really cannot. i am a father of three. three daughters. and three granddaughters. i cannot imagine on a saturday afternoon, my daughters and my granddaughters on a regular day a bright and sunny day going out about their normal business and then, all of a sudden,

terrorists come and change their lives forever. the video that german mccall talked about, where we could see some who were taken hostage how they were taken hostage. that is inhumane. it is unconscionable. but yet, thank you for having the courage to be here today to tell your story. because it is so important that your story is told. and it is even more important that we do not stop until your loved ones are returned.

and when they are returned, the story still must be told. so that generations yet unborn understand what took place. they have to know the inhumanity and insane -- of terrorists and terrorism. you cannot be human and take as we have seen babies. three years old and we want to make everybody -- three years old you think someone is going to take a 3-year-old and hold him hostage. seniors. disabled. mothers. fathers. but you are here and thank you.

thank you for being willing to be here because it is so important for every member of congress to know. every american to know. every human being to know. because to put ourselves or even imagine what i cannot as a father, i just can't. i do not know how you do it. that i thank you for doing it. i really do. because we have to feel the human touch, is what you are providing. in your grief and in your hope. because hope is a part of this also which, it is easy to lose hope. but you have shown you have not been up hope. and we know that there has been some 81 hostages returned.

and as, i think for synod of manning said it is hard for those whose have not been but you continue to give hope. to us. and what that does for members of congress, it makes it so that we will not relent, we will not stop. we will not forget. we will continue to work. we will put politics aside. until your hope becomes a reality. of the return of your loved ones. thank you. thank you. united states congress, the american people and the world owe you a deep deep thank you for doing what you do because

you are going to make sure that they are never forgotten and returned home. even in this time of your -- may god bless each and continue to bless each and everyone of you. >> thank you ranking member greg meeks and indeed is is a -- it is a great honor and i appreciate german mccall naming me as the chairman of the middle east subcommittee. all the events i have had the privilege and opportunity to work with this is the most heartfelt indeed that we have all faced and you can see it is from the heart and bipartisan our standing with you, your families and the people of israel. we are grateful for your courage to have here is guests today -- all who know firsthand

the pain and fear of having a loved one taken by the iranian puppets of hamas. we are honored to have them here to share their stories, also want to welcome the alexander family whose son aiden is also being held by hamas. you are cherished for being here today. each of you, we would request keep your spoken words to fight minutes in order to allow for members with questions and you have a record number of members of congress here, dedicated to working with you. i know recognize -- to speak. >> thank you mr. chairman thank you for >> thank you for having us here and thank you for all of your support, really. we are -- new york resident and

parents of -- who was abducted by hamas saturday, october 7 and has been held hostage 34 days today. 54 days since the last sign of life. can you imagine? it truly is unimaginable. unmanageable but something like the events of october 7 could even take place. unimaginable that after 54 days, not only is he still held hostage but the red cross has not been allowed access. unimaginable that we find comfort in the fact that he was taken hostage and not murdered on that day. >> we would like to tell you a little bit about our son. he is a big 6'2" tall guy, always with a smile on his face. he's a good friend, the kind that brings people together.

in some ways he grew up like any other kid on long island, crazy about sports, any sports but especially basketball. he was on his high school sports teams. president of his youth group, a true young leader. is a dual citizen of both united states and israel, we are raising him with a big and deep connection to both of his homelands. after graduating school, he was accepted to college and he decided to take a gap. in israel with his is really. groups. the closer it grew to his new israeli friend the more he reflected on his own identity as a descendent of holocaust survivors on both sides, both me and my wife and -- strong israel. he made a decision to volunteer and join his new friends and serve in the idf to protect the jewish land. he was dropped as a lone

soldier -- his most recent position he was stationed just on the post on the border with gaza. as a tank commander and officer. >> we last spoke with him on friday night, october 6. and our last conversation he indicated he was looking forward to a quiet and peaceful weekend after a really stressful month protecting the border. we all know what happened only a few hours later. he was protecting people when he was taken by hamas. incident this day, our lives have completely turned upside down. we spent every waking hour fighting in his name, speaking on his behalf. in front of communities, with the government, with you on the media. we are deeply grateful for the support we have received from

the u.s. government and president biden who has committed since they went to bringing the hostages home. there has been progress this week. but he is still not with us. and the clock continues to take and not in our favor. there are still 150 hostages in gaza deep under the ground in the dark. some badly injured with no medicine with little food. we appreciate your support but we urge you to press to bring the international communities to demand proof of life and other basic humanitarian requirements and to bring them home as soon as possible. >> thank you. >> thank you. i know recognize --

>> thank you for having us today. we are here -- our son at 19 but we also are representing 160 hostages and the problem that we have -- time is running out. i would like to recognize among the hostages the non--- nine u.s. citizens that are not with us. -- and our son. we are jew and -- urge you and

the u.s. government to do everything they can. time is ticking not in our favor. he grew up as a dual citizen both living in israel and visiting family here in the united states plainview, fairlawn, new jersey, boston. and when he got to the age of 18, he joined the idf and was also stationed at a base next to the gaza border. important to say protecting -- part of the state of israel that is not in an international conflict. and was abducted and kidnapped on that black saturday. we had initial contact with him but, as the hours went by we understood this was not a typical saturday when missiles were flowing from one side to

the other. he got in contact with his team members and other members that saw him, the contact was lost soon at 9:00 in the morning was the last we had any contact with him. initially, we thought somehow he has been busy he might make it out. but after not hearing from him for 36 hours we went to the headquarters of the police as a missing person and try to figure out if the authorities had any clues about him. he was -- nobody was able to identify him physically in the field. he was not in one of the hospitals or one of the morgues. that gave us hope, a b he will show up. after four days thursday morning 6:00, we got a knock on the door to explain -- on the other side to high-ranking army

officials. believe me, you do not want your enemies to be able in that situation where you understand, you do not want to open that door. but you also understand there is no other choice but to open that door where your heart is going hundred miles an hour. we hear today are sitting as the lucky ones. that got the notification from the idf that he was abducted, kidnapped by the must -- hamas terrorist organization. that is a lucky thing to get a notice. ever since we have had no proof of life and no indication of his medical status. we just came today from the international red cross. explaining to them that the way that they operate in this manner is not the way that we

expect them to operate in this case. they need to be vocal. they are the witnesses. they are the one that see the hostages going out. they are the ones that need to be vocal and get the international community behind them. and explaining to hamas they need to know and understand this is not acceptable to the international community. they crossed the line by not providing medical attention or allowing any type of visitation. and we urge the international community, this is not a u.s. issue it is an international community, humanitarian issue that all of the international communities needs to get behind in order to solve this problem. we would like to thank the biden administration, the qatar government for putting in place this deal. this gives us hope. on one hand we are happy for our family members for being

whole again as much as possible. but, there is also more work to be done and we urge president biden and the international community to do what it can to get as many hostages out as soon as possible. the -- can wait for another day for another hour. first, hostages out. then we deal with hamas. it is important distinction that the families want to convey here as well. to summarize, we live in a different universe than you do. it is difficult to explain. all of us are family members in this different universe we live in. we need you to do whatever you can, holiday season is here. unfortunately we celebrated thanksgiving with an empty chair at our table. we want to be whole again with our family. god bless america, god bless

you and hopefully we can be hole again and go back to our previous lives. thank you. >> thank you very much. we know recognize -- >> -- came home but when we say came home she came back to israel. she did not go home because her home was destroyed -- abigail came home three days go but she did not come home to her house. she came home to israel and we are blessed by the miracle of her coming home to israel but

when she came home -- by hamas terrorists, were not there to greet her. on october 7 her mother was gunned down by hamas terrorists in her home. her brother michael and sister were both there. they went outside where their father was with abigail who is three. they started to run and hamas terrorists gunned him down and killed him and he fell and abigail, covering her. the -- they that abigail also had been murdered. they locked themselves in a closet for 14 hours. those 14 hours we had two people, a six and 10-year-old reporting to us about what happened that day. their grandmother who is also from this -- was in bulgaria on

a trip. she called her grandchildren a six and a 10-year-old in the closet, it was dark and she said why is a dark. she knew it was daytime. it was a beautiful day. they said because there hamas terrorists here and they have just killed our parents and abigail. she made them get out of the closet to show her from thousands of miles away the body of her daughter killed. then they lock themselves in where they stayed for 14 hours. until they were able to be secured with other relatives on the cupboards were most people stayed for 30 hours where they could be taken from this kibbutz because they were so many terrorists. abigail managed to crawl out from under her father's body but we did not learn this for three days because, there was

no opportunity for us to understand. she called out from underneath her father's body with blood all over her and went to a neighbor. a neighbor who she knew. they took her in, they locked her in a safe room this mother and her three children and the father. he went outside to protect the kibbutz. he was injured and did not come back. what we learned a few days later was that a witness had seen a mother and children being taken by hamas terrorists. that was it. 50 days we did not know anything about abigail's whereabouts or anything about this mother and her three children we did not know if they were together we prayed that a 3-year-old was not alone and was with a woman, a mother who she knew. 50 days now, we are blessed

because abigail came home to israel three days ago. but, when she arrived and she had no parents she was dark, she had no light, her aunt and her grandmother went to meet her. she was then she was hungry. i won't even go into more description but she had been somewhere in the dark for 50 days. the only blessing is that this woman had taken care of her as though she were one of her own. when abigail saw her siblings and her cousins these young people coming to visit her, she blossomed, the light came back and every day we hope for abigail to continue in this

process. think about it, a 6-year-old and 10-year-old who spent 50 days thinking the abandoned their sister. that if they had thought she was alive and brought her to the closet she would not of been there. what i'm trying to explain the effects of this for the entire family. taking about abigail and the 6- year-old and 10-year-old hearing this and carrying this in their hearts. the stories keep going on and on. we are blessed that abigail is with her aunt, her uncle, her cousins, her sister her brother her grandparents. and some people might say why are you still here? you won the lottery. your relative is home with her family. but was has happened in the last six weeks and many of you saw me six weeks ago, all of you know this a picture of abigail and six weeks ago i put

this picture of abigail on my desk and my daughter said how can you look at that it is so sad. i said this is my strength. this is our hope. this is why we are doing what we are going to do for -- i naovely thought it would not take this long. i thought how long could this take? but what i am here to say is these people who are here speaking about their american sons, those folks in israel and around the world who are waiting for their loved ones to come back, we are now a family. we're here for each other and i will continue and our family in israel will continue to support the return of all of these young people, i also want to bring out that there are young women we have to get out of there because i will not say what is happening but we all know what is happening to young women. they need to come out. we have other children we have

all people, we need to get them out. i so appreciate all the work everyone here is doing and i can only add my words of abigail is the hope. we see that people are coming out. we need to keep them coming out, we need more to come out and we need them to come out really soon. when i see those faces and you all see those faces after 52, 53 days, they cannot stay there much longer. i want to thank you for having us and thank you for really making this your priority and that we know this is something everyone here agrees on so thank you. >> thank you very much. thank you for being here with the release -- so important, god bless you. as we proceed to questions, we will begin with a further statement by chairman mike mccall who has another commitment thank you. >> thank you.

liz, thank you for the powerful story and all the families. i have meetings with ambassadors from the middle east to talk about this issue among others and we will not rest, this committee will not rest until we get your loved ones home. and get our americans home. and as a mother of a hostage told me, lightness will defeat the darkness. as you mentioned, abigail was in darkness and now she is in light. that is my great hope and as moses said, let my people go. so shalom, and we will see you again soon, thank you. >> thank you. >> we will now proceed with questions from -- we will be proceeding with questions from members who are here, it is so impressive.

>> jim, thank you for having us here. i want to say a few words about our son. he grew up in maryland, actually. all of my kids grew up in the states. he graduated high school last year, 19 years old. he decided to volunteer to the idf. to protect the residential areas to protect the kibbutz. and his base was bombarded, it was attacked and surrounded by 20 terrace. he tried to conduct the long- range fight with them but, there was too many. and the ironic thing, the name of the base is the white house. the white house is our gallery. an old turkish building next to kibbutz -- and it is a small

post actually next to this art gallery protecting the --. and -- son omar was actually part of that base as well. a few soldiers were dispatched to the border and my son stayed at this post, guarding the small base. along with two non-combat is and when the soldiers came back to the base they discovered that two -- were killed and he was missing. so they took him. that is basically our story of what happened on october 7. >> thank you very much. would you like to comment? >> hello, everyone.

i am just going to say that i was in tel aviv october 7. >> it is war. i am seeing terrible stuff. i was so surprised that something like that could happen. you know. everything seems fine. you know. i'm thankful that i spoke with him before they took him. i'm hoping that he will come

home to us. thank you. >> thank you. each of you are so cherished by us and so appreciated. we will be proceeding with questions. and then we will have a statement and i will give more time to our colleagues here. we will begin with councilwoman in second. i believe that mike mccall was correct. we need to stand together to eliminate and defeat hamas, the puppets of iran, for the people of israel. it is also for the people of gaza. it is for the people of the west bank. it is not for some specific. it is broad. the people of the united states -- it is people across europe

and asia. in south america, who have been kidnapped and are being held. indeed, the family is correct. it is the international community. it is being challenged. to me, sadly, the world is in a conflict we didn't choose. there will be the invasion of ukraine. it proceeded to october 7th with israel on putin's birthday. we have to take this so seriously. in their own, they chant for the people of the world. it is very clear. it is death to america, and death to israel. last week, in europe, we had

the meeting with the association of europe. we had delegations from 50 countries that may be israel and america -- it is them, ultimately. it is the international community. we must be together. that is why it is inspiring to see democrats and republicans working together. because we do understand this. i now refer to congers when kathy manning of north carolina. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i just want to point out something that has become apparent as we have listened to each of you tell your story. that is that none of your sons had to be there. all of your sons were americans. they could have chosen to stay in their safe, comfortable homes right here in america. but they know the story of the jewish people. they know that our 2000 year history has made it so critically important that we have one country in the world

that will always take in when they are persecuted and times of stress. it is important to note that each of your sons chose to do their part to secure a jewish homeland at a time when we have rising and night semitism. we have anti-semitism around the globe and in this country, unlike anything we have ever seen before. since october 7th, prior to october so, her anti-semitism in this country was at a crisis level. since october 7th, we have seen anti-semitic violent incidents price by 400%. we are now at a catastrophe. i just want to mention how grateful i am to each of your sons that they chose to take this noble route to secure a jewish homeland so that will have some place, a safe haven to protect them, no matter what

happens in the future. the only question i have to ask you is, what more can we be doing? what more can the israeli government be doing to make sure that we achieve our goal, which is to bring back all of the hostages safely? it is a tough question because we feel like we are doing everything we can, but there are things you are asking us to do -- please tell us. >> as i said, we came from the international scene. keep the pressure on them. they need to say what is happening. that is a. b, also, the people of the united states need also to convey the message to the government of israel that they believe this is the number one topic on the agenda, for them, as well. to keep the israeli government focused on this topic. release the hostages before

anything else. >> time is of the of -- essence. there are wounded young people. elderly. it doesn't matter whether soldiers or civilians. they are our kids. they need to come home. this has to be on top of mind. it has to be discussed. it has to be in the public eye. in the international community, everyone has to shout. these families must be reunited. the sooner, the better. >> keep the pressure on cutter and egypt and the raleigh international community to get this done.

>> thank you, congresswoman manning. >> thank you, mr. chairman. one of the advantages of my age is that when someone says, never again -- never forget, i think to october 7th as the 50 years since the sneak attack in the yom kippur war. it is no accident. it is no accident that 54 days later, the terrorists are still holding hostages that they took specifically to give themselves leverage. it is no doubt for any of us that it was only through the united states supporting israel and their aggressive action that brought the pressure home.

although i heard the answer to the last question and i completely empathize with it, i have to say, don't we need to do both? don't we need to continue our unity and our pressure and our willingness to fight as if there is no negotiation, and negotiate as if there is no fighting if we are going to secure the release of these hostages alive and ultimately bring a piece to israel. a piece that egypt, jordan, sudan, bahrain, iraq, and uae have signed in saudi arabia, negotiating that the iranian terrorists backing hamas want to derail. i ask that as the toughest question to ask a family. is there something you want us to do other than do both? all of the above? never forget?

never give up on the force it takes to pressure them to release the hostages? never quit negotiating. this cannot be allowed to happen again by the act of these terrorists. that is a hard question to ask. i am asking almost the mirror of the last question. don't we have to do both? >> i want to remind everyone here that we are not politicians or military strategists, and we really trust you to get that work done. all we can do is continue to tell our stories and continue to carry this pain and ask you to keep doing everything you are doing. thank you. >> thank you. that is what i'm suggesting, that everything we have done, the unity that we have shown

congress and with the administration, the pushback on iran's policies of spreading around the world false narratives, it seems like we have to do all of that. as we go forward with what might be many more days or weeks before all of the hostages are freed, and months or even longer before hamas is eliminated from all of the world, but particularly from gaza, you know, i want to hear it because i want to be supportive of what you, as citizens of israel, and a suffering family, want, because your priorities should be our priorities. >> congressman issa, we are

here for the hostages. that should be everyone's priority. i have spent six weeks coming to the hill and speaking with people, leaders on both sides. people who unanimously think that the number one priority is to release these hostages. the people here are also americans. they come as americans. they come as supporters of israelis. the one thing that we have all understood is that we can't answer your question how we want to in the sense that we individually can, but we are here representing hostages. we are representing lives. we don't have the answers. what we are here to do is tell the story and have you to continue to tell these stories. please bring us back -- until they are home so that no one is resting -- we don't think anyone is, but when you ask that question, we are all fixers, but we can't fix this. these people -- they are the parents.

their sons could be my sons. they are somewhere in the dark in gaza. what i think is the guiding light here is that we need to get these hostages out. we need to bring these people home to their loved ones. i actually believe that that is the way we move forward in the region. that is the way we move forward in terms of how we help each other. until these hostages come back, all these conversations you need to have -- we can't join them. and i thank you for your leadership. and i thank you. but we implore you to keep that pressure going. so that their sons, who could be my son, will be home really soon. >> i will in the alternative give you my pledge that i, as

one member of congress, will push to make sure that congress never quits until every hostages returned home. thank you for your stories. >> thank you very much. i want to comment that congressman issa's heritage is from the middle east. i found out despite the media coverage, the people didn't want to live in the 14th century. they were doing quite well with skyscrapers in the 21st century. that is that civilization we want to see in the middle east. thank you. we will now conclude with congressman schneider due to time constraints. as we conclude, i would like to have everyone assembled behind the table for a picture with members of congress and our cherished guest. >> sure. thank you, chairman.

i want to express my sorrow for all of the parents and family members who are going through this situation. i want you to know that i share your concern that the release of hostages should be the number one priority. i know that you want here to be political or to take sides one way or the other in politics. i have been critical of the netanyahu government because i feel as though they were not prioritizing the release of hostages for the first month or so. don't expect any comments on that. just to let you know. i am on the foreign affairs committee, but not on this subcommittee, but i wanted to come here to pay my respects and to let you know the entire congress has hostages on their minds. but also to let you know that we are going to stay on, and that all of us have called for

the release of hostages. and demanded that hamas release hostages. i yield. >> thank you very much, congressman castro. we are so grateful for your courage to be here. i want to thank the guests that are here. i want to thank the members of congress that are here. you can see that it is heartfelt but republicans and democrats who stand with you and stand for the release of the hostages kidnapped so mercilessly as we know see -- we are concluding. here, here. and indeed, republicans and democrats are really united in our love and affection for each of you. with that, we conclude with a brief picture. thank you.