Yechi, the father of Arbel Yehud, who was recently released from Hamas captivity, spoke on Monday before the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and read a message from his daughter.
Yehud quoted his daughter as saying: "I learned Arabic within a month of being taken hostage and heard my captors express joy over the divide in the Israeli nation over the question of the release of the hostages. I thought they were using psychological terror on me when they told me that the issue of the hostages had become a political debate. I didn’t believe it until I returned to Israel and was exposed to this harsh reality."
I was in isolation for 482 days, during which time I didn’t see or hear a single Israeli. This was from the time I was separated from my partner Ariel, three hours after I was kidnapped, until I met Gadi (Mozes). You can imagine the horrors I went through during my captivity. You all saw the day of my release."
She also wrote that "despite all this, I returned focused on my goal of rescuing my beloved Ariel, his brother David and the other hostages. I am also determined to succeed in the long rehabilitation process that awaits me."
"Already on the day of my release at Sheba Hospital, I told my father: 'Dad, don't let go. I need Ariel so that I can rehabilitate myself,' and my father answered: 'I didn't think otherwise.'"
Yechi read out his daughter's message to the Knesset members: "I demand of you, like I demand from my father, not to think otherwise. Bring everyone back in one phase – the living and the dead. Don't scare the people with the question of price, but scare yourselves. Maybe that's what will make you protect the country's citizens in a better way in the future."