Father of German-Israeli Geisel: “Germany has to save its citizens”

Ruby Chen is written on the face. For 22 months, the father of the German-Israeli Hamas-Geisel Itay Chen has been struggling for the release of his son and the remaining 50 hostages in the Gaza Strip-among them seven Germans. After the youngest Hamas videos, he and his wife Chagit traveled to Berlin again to ask the federal government to act, says Ruby Chen in an interview with the AFP news agency. Above all, he put “great hopes” in Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU).

The former government showed “a lot of compassion”, says Chen. But now the words would have to follow. “And we hope that this government will at least show the willingness to do more.” Because time is pushing.

Seven Germans are still hostage in the Gaza Strip. Rome Braslavski, Ziv Berman, Gali Berman, Tamir Adar, Alon Ohel, Tamir Nimrodi, lists Ruby Chen. And Itay Chen, his son. He brought her names and photos on a poster.

He expects that “this German government understands that Rome and the other hostages have not had another six months,” says Chen with reference to the desperate German-Israeli Rom Braslavski, which the Islamists demonstrated in one of their latest propagand videos. “You probably don’t have six weeks or maybe not even six days.”

Together with other relatives, he wanted to put the fate of hostages into the public consciousness. So far, Germany has been committed too little for the fate of its own citizens, the father criticizes. Germany has to “make an effort and become active” instead of relying on the intermediaries, he demands. “You have the obligation to save and do what you can,” appeals to the federal government.

In addition to Israeli, his son Itay also has German citizenship. When he tells of his son, Ruby’s eyes light up for a moment. Itay is the middle child of a total of three siblings, he says. A clever, talented boy who likes to sing and dance. He also has a friend “who loves him and wait for him”.

Itay’s grandmother was born in Bad Reichenhall in Bavaria. “At the age of 18 he could have come to Germany here, he could have studied,” says the father. “But the grandparents are Holocaust survivors, so we understand what it means to have a Jewish state, so he decided to go to the IDF,” says Ruby Chen, looking at the Israeli army.

On the day of the Hamas attacks, Itay was in a tank with other soldiers to defend the places attacked by Hamas. Since then, there has been no trace of the then 19-year-old. Despite the other intelligible intelligence information, the parents firmly believe that their child lives.

The federal government is not only responsible for the seven Germans under hostages, emphasizes. Responsibility also applies to the “global level, for the fact that German citizens were killed on October 7, 2023, and for those who have been kidnapped,” explains Chen. In his view, it should “have criminal consequences to kidnap German citizens”. The “murder of German citizens must not remain without consequences”.

According to the Federal Foreign Office, the victims of the Hamas attack on October 7 were “a double-digit number of German citizens, says Chen. With reference to the perpetrators to “stay in Turkey now,” he asks: “Why is there no application for delivery of these people and their interrogation in Germany?”

In addition to the legal review of the Hamas attack, Chen also demands economic consequences for the masterminds of brutal attack on Israeli villages, cities and a music festival. In this way, Germany can become more active in sanctions against Hamas and their supporters. Many options are still unused here to put direct pressure on Hamas.

Hamas was classified and banned by the European Union in 2003 as a terrorist organization. Since then, however, the EU “has not imposed a single economic sanction against Hamas,” criticized Chen. However, sanctions are “a political decision”, for example when it comes to financing Hamas.

Germany has to make its influence on Turkey much more on this question, he demands. With Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) and representatives of the Ministry of Finance, he was in conversation in conversation “through the global network for the financing of terrorism”.

In addition to Germany, the EU also sees the EU on the diplomatic level. Before negotiations on a two -state solution, however, “first the hostages would have to come, the living like the dead”. So that the families can heal and mourn their loved ones.