Another Biden/Harris Fail

The American Hostages in Gaza

This bumper sticker rather amuses me. It’s for sale online. I’ve never seen one in the wild. And maybe one of the reasons we don’t see people plastering this message on their cars (if they can still afford their car) is that Harris and her boss Joe Biden have failed America. In particular, they have failed American hostages.

You may be old enough to remember when Iran took American citizens hostage and America went to extreme (albeit unsuccessful) efforts to liberate them. Jimmy Carter was president then and he took a lot of blame and abuse for his failure to protect American citizens who fell into the hands of the enemy. Some say it cost him the Presidency. It certainly cost him his legacy. The day he left office, Iran released the hostages—in a major middle-finger salute to the White House.

Do you know that there have been Americans held hostage by terrorists since October 7, 2023? In case you’re not good at math, that’s more than one year.

If you’re a Harris voter, you likely know the lyrics to Cardi B’s magnum opus WAP but you probably don’t know who Jimmy Carter was or why the Iranian hostage crisis was considered such a monumental political failure.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have their own hostage crisis, although neither one seems to be aware of it. On a Sabbath Saturday, October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel. A total of 1,269 people were killed, including many women and children. Reports littered the media describing unspeakable rapes and torture. It was the largest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Many of the victims were attending a peaceful music festival in a little town called Re’im. As best we know from reports, Hamas took 251 people hostage—men, women, children, citizens of various nations. A major swap took place in November 2023 and 105 of these hostages were released. Since that time, we know of others who were rescued by the Israeli Army, sometimes alive and sometimes dead. Some of the hostages were killed during the Israeli rescue efforts.

According to NBC News, 97 hostages are not accounted for and it is suspected that many of them are dead. However, it is believed that more than half of them are still alive. Four of them are Americans.

Why don’t we know their names? Why have their stories not dominated our news cycles? Why has Joe Biden gone time and time again from October 2023 to today to the beach for long, relaxing vacations… when Americans were being held hostage? Why is Kamala Harris trotting out to Los Angeles to hobnob with her celebrity buddies and raise some of that sweet-sweet Hollywood money … and not doing anything to help the hostages?

Why has the mainstream media abandoned this story? (Hint: it doesn’t make Harris look good.)

In seeking information on this story, I did find a blog from Israel written by aman named Amichai Shdaimah who praised Kamala (and encouraged people to vote for her) because Kamala and Joe were able to negotiate the release of his stepmother. A closer look at the story is that his stepmother, Ditza Heiman, was part of the release of 105 hostages in November 2023. No extraordinary efforts were made by Biden or Harris to get her specific release and Ditza Heiman was not an American, although she was related to some Americans by marriages. As glad as we can be that Ditza Heiman was released from captivity after about 53 days as a Gazan hostage, I doubt Biden or Harris even knew who she was. Or cared.

So who are the Americans who are still Hamas hostages?

Keith Siegel

Born in North Carolina, 63-year-old Keith Siegel was living with his wife Aviva Siegel on a kibbutz in Israel on October 7, 2023. They were American citizens but living in Israel. When they were captured by terrorists, the terrorists also stole their car—and used it to drive them to their incarceration in Gaza. Aviva Siegel was one of the 105 people released in November 2023, but her husband was left behind. He is still in Gaza and believed to be still alive. It’s been over a year.

Sagui Dekel-Chen

Sagui was born in the United States and is the son of an American professor. Like the Siegels, he was living on a kibbutz with his wife Avital and their children when the attack occurred. Thirty-five year old Sagui saw the attack coming and quickly rushed his wife and kids to a safe room. Israeli buildings and even private homes have special secure rooms built in. The family survived. Sagui’s mother Neomit was also there for the attack, and although injured, she managed to escape. Sagui stayed to fight and was taken hostage. He’s still there and believe to be alive.

Edan Alexander

A graduate of Tenafly High School in New Jersey, Edan volunteered to join the Israeli Army and he fought that day of October 7, 2023. At just 20 years of age, he was taken hostage during the attack. He is believed to be alive in Gaza—after being a hostage for over a year.

Omer Neutra

Born in Long Island, Omer had just graduated high school in America when he decided to take a gap year. He intended on going to Binghamtom College after the gap year, which he opted to spend in Israel. The 22-year-old American was so impressed with Israel that he decided to volunteer to service in the Israeli Army. He was captured in the fighting on October 7, 2023. He is thought to be alive but he’s spent over a year as a hostage.

Vote Like the Hostages Matter

Biden and Harris have never seemed particularly concerned about these American hostages or any of the hostages. There have been no late-night meetings or special talks. Biden has barely interrupted his schedule of nonstop back-to-back vacations. Harris has not curtailed her constant celebrity hobnobbing to make any serious efforts at obtaining their release. Some of the hostage families have mentioned that they have met with Biden, but obviously the meetings were not effective. I doubt the meetings were more than perfunctory.

I doubt that if you challenged Harris to name the Americans held hostage right now in Gaza, she couldn’t do it. She probably wouldn’t understand the question.

Omer Neutra’s parents spoke at the Republican National Convention in July 2024 and they weren’t there to sing the praises of Kamala Harris.

I just thought we should know the names of our fellow American citizens held hostage by terrorists as we head into the voting booth. And remember the name of the candidate who coulda-woulda-shoulda spent some of her time dealing with this issue.