American-Israeli hostage families will jointly meet with President Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday at the White House, Jonathan Polin, father of 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg Polin, told reporters on Tuesday night.
On Wednesday morning prior to Netanyahu’s address, a separate group of Israeli hostage families will be meeting at the White House with Amos Hochstein, US Envoy on Lebanon.
Gil Dickmann, cousin of hostage Carmel Gat, said Biden is the only one he thinks Netanyahu will listen to about signing the deal.
“There’s only one leader of the free world,” Dickmann said. “And Biden’s the leader of the free world for the next few months.”
Polin said Republicans are critical this week, including longtime elected officials like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and House Speaker Mike Johnson who have close relationships with the prime minister, as well as former President Donald Trump, with whom Netanyahu will meet this weekend at Mar a Lago.
Polin, and the delegation of American-Israeli hostage families, spoke with Graham on Tuesday.
The importance of bringing them home
Polin told The Post that Graham understands that releasing the hostages is a necessary component for his larger vision for the Middle East.
“The Saudis are still sitting in waiting and ready to advance a process, but only once the hostages come home. And [Graham] understands that,” Polin said to The Post.
Polin said he thinks Graham is “very comfortable in his skin” and is comfortable “delivering tough messages.”
“We need bipartisan voices all pushing on him,” Polin said. “And we don’t know where the answer is gonna come from, but we need all of these voices from both sides of the aisle pushing him.”
In the joint meeting with both leaders on Thursday, Polin said he doesn’t want to hear Netanyahu is “getting closer to a deal” or moving the goalposts, as 291 days is “more than enough time to make our loved ones be the ones paying the price for us to continue to try to get closer and closer.”
Polin also said he’ll tell Netanyahu that the complete victory he’s been talking about for the past 291 days is part and parcel for bringing the hostages home.
“I still don’t know what the definition of complete victory is,” Polin said. “I know the definition of total failure, and that is not bringing home the hostages.”
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