Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu honored the hostages who were taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 during his address to Congress on Wednesday afternoon.
Netanyahu, who is in Washington amid a tumultuous week for U.S. domestic politics, brought Noa Argamani, one of the hostages who was rescued during an Israeli military mission recently, to his address.
“One of those freed hostages, Noa Argamani, is here in the gallery, sitting near my wife,” he said. “On the morning of Oct. 7, the entire world saw Noa’s look of desperation as she was violently abducted to Gaza on the back of a motorcycle.”
The prime minister also only briefly mentioned a possible ceasefire deal that could return all of the hostages remaining in Gaza.
“As we speak, we’re actively engaged in intensive efforts to secure their release. And I’m confident that these efforts can succeed. Some of them are taking place right now,” he said. “I want to thank President Biden for his tireless efforts on behalf of the hostages and for his efforts to the hostage families as well.”
Dozens of Democratic politicians boycotted Netanyahu’s address due to their concerns over Israel’s conduct in its war against Hamas in Gaza. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) silently protested his address in the chamber by holding a sign reading “War Criminal.”
“The pain these families have endured is beyond words,” Netanyahu added, and the prime minister also praised two soldiers who were in the chamber, a Bedouin Muslim and an Ethiopian Jew, who were injured fighting in Gaza.
Netanyahu said 255 people were taken hostage and 135 have been brought home either through the weeklong ceasefire deal in November or a handful of rescue operations.
The families of the hostages have hoped for months that Netanyahu and Hamas would come to an agreement to secure the release of their loved ones but a deal has continued to elude them.
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“We were hoping that would be the case before he addresses Congress altogether, but at the very least here,” Efrat Moshkoviz, the aunt of Naama Levy, who was filmed on Oct. 7 getting dragged out of a Jeep bloodied in the crotch area, told the Washington Examiner before his address.
She said she wanted to hear “a very specific commitment to getting the deal done, to finding that path that will seal the deal in a matter of not even hours days imminent, and that’s that’s what we’re looking for,” though that largely did not come.
