In a rare public appeal, Yuval, the daughter of missing Israeli pilot Ron Arad who disappeared over Lebanon, has called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to facilitate the release of the remaining detainees held by Hamas in Gaza. She expressed concern that history is not only repeating itself before her eyes but that those in power seem unwilling to learn from it. "I can't bear it," she stated.
In a public statement on her mother's Facebook page, which is not her usual platform for engagement, Ron Arad's daughter urged the Prime Minister on Wednesday to make "difficult decisions" and work towards freeing the captives held by Hamas since October 7, 2023.
Yuval reflected upon her father's captivity in a Facebook post on her mother's account, "Tami," which has over 26,000 followers. She recalled how the efforts to free her father always seemed to be one step behind and lamented the lack of understanding that time in captivity is an opportunity window that could close forever at any moment. She spoke of how her father was turned into a poster figure—the captive navigator Ron—whom nobody would want to embody.
Remembering the requests for patience after her father's capture, she recounted being told, "Everyone will come back. We are doing everything we can." She shared these thoughts because she believes that not only is history repeating itself before her eyes, but also that people refuse to learn from it, and she can no longer stand by.
Later, she criticized government members for their failure to bring back the detainees, stating that policymakers and the government, including its leader, need to make tough decisions. She suggested that reluctance to reach an agreement with Hamas for their return implies painful concessions, which could be politically damaging for the ministers of this government.
She concluded by asserting that for a deal to happen, one must take responsibility, stand before the cameras, look straight ahead, and say a decision has been made. She added this does not happen because leadership and responsibility are qualities that seem to be lacking.
Ron Arad, an Israeli pilot, was captured when his plane went down over southern Lebanon in October 1986 during an Israeli raid on the region. He was caught by the Amal Movement and is said to have been handed over to Hezbollah, and his fate has been unknown since then. In 2006, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, stated that Arad had died and his body had been lost.
This call to action from Yuval Arad underscores the ongoing tensions and complexities in the negotiation processes for the release of captives between Israel and Palestinian groups, illustrating the deeply personal and national impacts of such long-standing conflicts.
