The below is a standalone essay from Ayala Metzger, daughter-in-law of Yoram Metzger, who was taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October 2023.
My name is Ayala Metzger.
On 7 October 2023, my 80-year-old father-in-law and mother-in-law were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz to Khan Yunis. They were abducted violently and separately and were reunited later in Hamas tunnels, where they were held together until Tami was released on the 53rd day as part of the November 2023 ceasefire-hostage deal. But Yoram remained: according to the IDF, he was murdered on 14 February 2024, following military activity near the tunnel where he was being held.
My 19-year-old daughter had gone to visit her grandparents and cousins and got caught up in the attack at the home of my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. They sheltered in the safe room from 6.30 in the morning. An hour later, she messaged me saying I should only text, not call – because there were terrorists outside. About that time, terrorists entered the house, looting and trying – thankfully, unsuccessfully, to break into the safe room. Fortunately, too, they did not shoot into the room or burn down the house. My daughter, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and two nephews survived.
Seventy-seven people were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, many of them friends and acquaintances of mine, and dozens were murdered.
I believe that, if we want to reclaim our lives, we must strive both to reach an agreement as soon as possible and to overcome feelings of anger, pain, and revenge and work towards a resolution of this tragic conflict.
My mother is a second-generation Holocaust survivor. I was raised in a home that taught love for others. My grandfather, who lost his family in Poland, enlisted in the Jewish Brigade in 1941 and fought with the British against the Nazis in the second world war. After the war ended, he remained in Europe not for revenge, but to save Jewish children.
Hamas’ attack has shocked and scarred my family and Israeli society as a whole. But I believe that the current Israeli government – held to ransom by Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners – is part of the problem, not the solution. These far-right parties have prioritised their own messianic ideological ambitions – ones which the vast majority of Israelis do not share – over the release of our hostages, over the long-term security of our country, and over any prospect of peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
For his own personal and political motives, the prime minister has appeased these extremists. When we next go to the polls, I hope Israelis will punish him, and this government, harshly for their defiance of our wishes and their collective failure to prioritise the release of the hostages.
They should punish them too for the corruption – both political and private – which has characterised this administration and for their failure to adhere to our country’s founding principles. Israel was established on the basis of English law, with a welfare state, a robust democracy, and a pledge of equality for all. We will not forget that – even as the country is at war – ministers have continued to pursue their attempts to weaken the judiciary and separation of powers – and thus Israeli democracy itself.
And they should punish them for their lack of ambition. Too many innocents – in Israel and Palestine – have died over too many decades. It is time to bring this tragic conflict to a close and to marginalise the extremists on all sides who prevent that happening.
Israel today needs external help to reach a solution.
I do not believe in peace through hugs and dancing: Hamas kidnapped and murdered members of my family. But an agreement that allows both sides to live in security, with clear borders and strict enforcement, will gradually enable us to recover, to rebuild trust, and raise a generation that believes it is possible to build bridges and create a better future here for everyone.
