Iris Weinstein Haggai, daughter of Canadian Judy Weinstein Haggai and American Gadi Haggai, whose bodies were taken hostage into Gaza after being killed near their Kibbutz Nir Oz home on October 7, is slated to attend President-elect Trump‘s inauguration Monday along with other family members of American hostages.
Iris, who’s frequently traveled to Washington from her home in Singapore throughout the past 470 days, noticed a huge change since Trump came out with his social media post saying “all hell will break loose” if the hostages weren’t released by the time he took office.
“Since he made that statement, things have changed,” she told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday morning.
Iris was last in Washington about a month ago when the American hostage families first met with incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security advisor, met with the American hostage families more than a dozen times after October 7 and was instrumental in keeping the families informed on the state of negotiations.
‘They know who the bad guys are’
The Trump administration “won’t let terrorists get rewarded” and will do everything they can to get our loved ones out, Iris said of her impression from Waltz.
After meeting Waltz, she described hearing everything she wanted to hear and feeling a sense of “breathing a little bit” because Trump’s people know what they’re doing.
“They know who’s the bad guys,” Iris added, saying it seems like terrorism got rewarded and Hamas got “so many passes.”
“It got to the point where the murder of my parents and their bodies being taken hostage is normalized; the kidnapping of my friend and her two babies is normalized,” Iris said. “It just makes no sense.”
The Middle East needs someone who will be feared, according to Iris, which is what was needed in order to get this deal done.
Even though Biden and Trump have each claimed responsibility for securing the deal, Iris praised both administrations for working together.
“Conservative, Republican, liberal, it’s not about any of those things. This is a standalone, humanitarian crisis. The biggest hostage crisis in modern history,” Iris said. “It feels very, very good to know that these two administrations recognize it and work together.”
With less than 24 hours until Hamas is expected to release the first three hostages and less than 48 hours until Trump will be sworn into office, Iris described feeling “anxious, scared, optimistic, excited, sad and angry.”
Angry that the deal took as long as it did to come to fruition, and optimistic for the incoming administration to hold Netanyahu accountable for seeing through all three phases of the agreement.
While she’s happy the deal is going in the right direction, Iris explained the deal is still not over as 64 hostages will be left behind during the first phase of the agreement, 29 of whom are from her Kibbutz alone.
“We have to make sure all the phases are complete. I’m very happy we have progress, but at the same time, I can’t let my heart get too excited,” she added.
Iris described during the first ceasefire in November 2023 — when she hadn’t yet learned her parents had been killed on October 7 — waiting every night for Hamas to publish the list of hostages it would release the next day.
“Every night I would get a no, my mom was not on the list,” Iris said. “And at the end, she never came out. Other friends of mine never came out. So, you know, we’ll see what happens.”
Iris emphasized since no one truly knows who’s alive and who’s dead, it’ll be hard realizing some people are not alive and not coming home.
Gadi and Judy’s bodies should be released if Israel and Hamas reach the third phase of the ceasefire.
“Everyday is so full of anxiety and excitement and sadness and happiness,” she said, inhaling deeply. “That’s part of the reason that I’m in Washington right now to make sure it happens. I can’t let myself have confidence because I don’t want my heart to break again and again and again, even though it still will.”
Iris thinks Netanyahu respects Trump, who has a lot of goals he wants to complete in the Middle East with the Abraham Accords.
Iris doesn’t see how Israeli society will live through not all of the hostages coming home, which she thinks Trump understands how important that is for peace to happen in the Middle East.
“I truly see a civil war happening, and it breaks my heart. I love Israel, I love my people,” she said. “If we don’t bring everybody home, this will never be over, and we’ll get in another loop, in another loop, in another loop. I do believe that Trump understands it.”
Iris told The Post she needs the closure in order to start mourning her parent’s deaths; she’s resisted mourning in hope Gadi and Judy are not really dead, and the images she saw of their bodies were edited.
“Our breath has been choked for 470 days. My life has been on pause,” she said. “I don’t work, I don’t do anything aside from doing this, trying to bring everybody back.”
This article was originally published at www.jpost.com
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