What Next: Some Israeli Hostages Came Home. His Son Didn't.

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News, News Commentary, Politics

4.6 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 13 December 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Over 100 hostages being held by Hamas were released during the temporary ceasefire last month. But Sagui Dekel-Chen, a resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz, was not among them. With Gaza under bombardment again, all his father can do is plead with the Israeli government, and wait. Guest: Jonathan Dekel-Chen, professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, father of Sagui Dekel-Chen, who is presumed to be one of the hostages held by Hamas. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	When Jonathan Dekel-Hhen goes to Washington these days, and he goes to Washington a lot, he brings photos.
0:12.0	Mostly there are pictures of his 35 year old son, Segii. He wishes he could bring more.
0:18.0	A lot of the photos that we had for Segii and for all my other kids and grandkids were burned on October 7th.
0:26.2	It was not just a murderous rampage and hostage taking it was full scale looting and
0:35.0	destruction. Jonathan and his son are American citizens, but they lived down
0:41.0	an Israeli cabots, Niroz.
0:43.8	When Hamas fighters invaded, Niroz was one of the first places they went.
0:50.2	Segii has been missing ever since.
0:53.0	I'd love to share all kinds of photos,
0:56.0	him as a little boy as a baseball player.
0:58.0	He was one of the few Israelis who actually knows
1:02.0	how to play baseball by virtue of my
1:04.4	addiction to the sport and he bought into it thank goodness when he was a boy so I'd have a playmate.
1:09.8	That's dedication. Baseball game takes some time. It sure does.
1:13.7	And he caught the bug.
1:19.2	This is the Segye Jonathan wants lawmakers to know. The Segye who is so much more than a photo on a missing poster. Not just a baseball player. He played on Israel's junior national team as a kid.
1:33.2	It's also a tinkerer.
1:34.6	He fixed broken down farm equipment by hand.
1:38.0	And Seguise a dad to two little girls,
1:40.7	with a third on the way. On October 7th he locked his wife Avital and his kids in a
1:46.6	safe room and he tried to defend his farm. When the day was done he'd gone
1:51.8	missing.
	...

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