Davidi Ben Zion, Deputy Governor of Samaria, Chairman of the Achdut Yisrael party for the Zionist Congress, spoke to Arutz Sheva-Israel National News, as a commander in reserves and a friend of the Albag family, whose daughter Liri was one of the seven hostages who were freed during the past week and a half. Ben Zion related to the intense emotions in Israel regarding the return of the hostages, the war in Gaza that hasn’t ended, and his goals for Jewish unity in his new party.
Ben Zion says: “My friendship with the Albag family and specifically with Eli, Liri’s father, goes back about ten years. He is an unbelievable person who has donated to a huge project for social needs, welfare and youth. We are close friends. Even though he comes from a different side of the political map, we are like brothers. That's why I was so sad when she was kidnapped, and so excited when she came back to her own family.”
Not only did Liri come back, but she impressed everyone with the fact that she decided to say thank you to “the nation, to the soldiers.” Ben Zion believes that, “it's very unique and I think that it gave us some spirit for the next steps, because unfortunately the war against our enemy will continue. People like to dream that someone will change and that peace will come tomorrow morning, but we know that our enemies, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, all of them have the same agenda, the same ideology to kill all of us, to destroy the state of Israel. So I think that the spirit that Liri gave us all is like love and a huge hug to the nation of Israel. So, this week started for me with a warm feeling in my heart.”
On her father Eli’s very harsh criticism against those who opposed the hostage deal, and the many who were, and still are, concerned about the deal, Ben Zion says: “Our sages in Tractate Avot say that one should not judge another person until we stand in their place, and fortunately most of us have no chance of being a parent of a child who was held hostage in Gaza for over a year, so I can't judge what he said".
"But as I know Eli", Ben Zion explains, "he didn't speak about the people of Israel, and I think that he's very sad and he apologized because a lot of people feel that he spoke about them. He didn't understand the price that they paid to get Liri back. We can all judge the government, but my rule to check if they are doing good or not, is if the member of Knesset is thinking with a clear mind about the decision. The situation in Israel is very complex and it’s easy to write on Facebook or Instagram, but this is a very difficult situation and one must see the whole picture in order to make that decision. Even if we want to see the hostages back home, sometimes the price going to be so high, it's not simple.”
As the Gazans start returning to northern Gaza, Ben Zion, who was a commander in reserves, an IDF combat soldier, says he is “proud to be a major in the Paratroopers Brigade, who together with his soldiers have served more than 250 days in reserve duty. I think that the entire nation of Israel needs to say a huge thank you and appreciate these soldiers, because they paid a real price in their career, job, family, business, etc. to be in the war.”
“We had two goals in the war, he continues, "The first one was to destroy Hamas and the second one was to get our sisters and brothers back to their families. So, we haven’t succeeded in finishing the war unfortunately and I say that our enemies still plan to destroy the State of Israel, but today the situation in the south and in the north of Israel is better than before October 6th.”
As the Chairman of the Achdut Yisrael party for the Zionist Congress, a party that focuses on unity in Israel and the Jewish world, Ben Zion says that the party has four goals: 1. To support the soldiers, which is really important specifically today; 2. To bridge between the Jews that live in Israel to our brothers that live abroad; 3. To make connections between the different groups in Israel, which is one of our important and strategic projects; 4. To support the pioneer communities in the north, in the Galilee, the Negev. "We must continue the Zionist movement and this is our turn to do that", he concludes.