Holding our breath.
After an anxious few days, the government finally voted in favor of approving the hostage-ceasefire agreement with Hamas and tomorrow three Israeli hostages will be released, the first among 33 who will be released over six weeks in the first phase of the long-awaited deal. I'm overwhelmed with joy that the agreement is finally happening, but I'm also frustrated and angry that it took so long to finalize a deal that could have happened in May, with a growing understanding that it partly didn't happen because of internal politics. We're about to begin a terrifying rollercoaster of emotions in what feels like a dark and twisted reality game. We don't know the fate of the 33 hostages who will be released, the ones alive will be in much poorer condition than the hostages released last November and an unclear number are no longer alive. My heart is with the families of the hostages, I can't even begin to imagine what they are going through. The families of the hostages who will be released in the second phase have stressed the importance of seeing the deal through, though I fear that politics will get in the way, again. I'm also worried that the next time there will be a terror attack (and there will be one regardless of the deal), there will be criticism of the deal and an even larger rift in our fragile society. On Wednesday evening a vocal protester against the deal shared that what motivated him to protest in the streets is the fact that his brother was murdered by a terrorist who was released in the Gilad Shalit hostage deal, and he will do all he can to prevent other families from having to live through a similar experience in the future. I feel for him, but I also feel for my relative who received a draft from the army and has no choice but to serve as an IDF observer, the same role as the 5 women soldiers who were kidnapped from the Nachal Oz base on October 7th. I also feel for all the families who live near the Gaza border and need to know that they will not be abandoned by the country again. When there was talk that the deal might not happen a part of me felt that I couldn't live in a country that won't return its kidnapped residents, no matter the price. It's difficult enough to live here, we need to know that we will be protected and that we will do all we can to protect each other.
This moving song was released a few weeks after October 7th and captures the longing, and dreadful uncertainty, of so many families. Hopefully, all of them will get the closure they truly deserve.
The hours of fatigue that don't let time pass by
The heavy legs that can't find a reason to move
The days and nights like the faces in the pictures
Everything stops moving when you aren't here
And I wake from a dream and feel you are close
And then call out to you from the night
Come back, come back today
I so wanted you to come
I wish that you'll show up today without advance notice
I'm a tower of light
That from the distance will appear again
I wish that you'll show up today without advance notice
Translation by Moshe Kaye, taken from LyricsTranslate
