Relief but a long road ahead

After two years and two days of unbearable anxiety, anguish, and uncertainty, we can finally breathe a little easier: 48 hostages are finally returning home. For their families, their friends, and a grieving nation, the sight of these men and women walking back onto Israeli soil is nothing short of a miracle, a deep relief that heals but also hurts because the pain of what they went through will never fully fade.

Over the past two years, many in South Africa and around the world have come to know the returnees not as symbols, but as ordinary people who, in cruel circumstances, became the focus of international attention.

They are modest, private citizens who led quiet lives and never sought fame. When they visited and told their stories, they did so not to be celebrated, but to testify, to make sure that what happened isn’t forgotten and that their friends still trapped in Gaza’s tunnels won’t be forgotten.

Today, a small door of hope has opened. Hope for the beginning of rehabilitation, not only for the survivors themselves, who will require years of medical, psychological, and social care, but for Israeli society, which continues to mourn and rebuild. The path of healing will be long and will require communal solidarity. Yet, if history teaches us anything, it’s that after trauma, a society can recover and grow stronger, provided it commits to reconstruction and care for the most vulnerable.

But we must remember: this return is only the start of a much longer process. With all the relief and euphoria, there’s a need for sober realism. We mustn’t fall into illusions. The road to a lasting or genuine peace remains long and uncertain. The murderous ideology that produced the 7 October massacre hasn’t vanished overnight; it still exists in Gaza beyond the fences of the kibbutzim in the south of Israel.

Reports from this morning described celebrations in Gaza. Some witnesses said chants of “Khaybar, khaybar, yahud!” were heard, a slogan long associated with calls to murder Jews. Such incidents are a reminder that hatred and incitement continue to circulate, and that gestures of celebration by some don’t equal transformation of political culture or leadership.

If lasting change is to take place, it must include a process of ideological and civic transformation, a kind of “de-radicalisation” on a societal level. Just as Germany faced the long task of denazification after World War II, so too will any meaningful, sustainable peace require an equally determined effort to reform education, textbooks, civic institutions, and the public narrative in Palestinian society. Above all, Palestinian educational systems and social institutions must be part of any programme that seeks to uproot violent ideology and replace it with teachings that value human life and peaceful coexistence.

There will be time to write in detail about how such a process could be planned and implemented. For now, we wait with yearning and gratitude for the safe return of the hostages.

Thank you, United States President Donald Trump for your leadership, partnership, and unwavering commitment to the safety of Israel and the freedom of our hostages.

G-d Bless Israel! G-d Bless America!

• Ambassador David Saranga is the director of the Digital Diplomacy division at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.