The parents of fallen American-Israeli soldier Captain Omer Neutra voiced concerns over Israel’s renewed military operations in Gaza, arguing that airstrikes endanger the remaining hostages rather than securing their return. Speaking at the annual symposium of the Ruderman Program for American Jewish Studies at the University of Haifa on Tuesday, Ronen and Orna Neutra said that military escalation is putting lives at risk, including those of Israeli captives still held by Hamas.
“There’s an understanding by the two governments — the American and the Israeli — that [renewed strikes] are the way to return the hostages. We are not at all convinced that this is the case,” Ronen Neutra said.
The Neutras, whose son Omer was killed in the October 7 attacks, have spent months advocating for the release of hostages still held in Gaza. They pointed to past Israeli military actions that have resulted in hostage deaths, whether as collateral damage from airstrikes or through executions by Hamas in response to IDF operations.
“We know of 41 hostages who were killed in captivity, either from fire by our troops or by Hamas murdering them because the IDF was approaching,” Orna Neutra said. “The concerns of the hostage families are clear. The Israeli government has had 15 months of war to bring [the hostages] back in different ways, and in fact, only the current deal has brought them back.”
The Neutras emphasized it’s fitting that Omer’s story was given a platform at a conference celebrating and discussing the special bond between American Jewry and Israel.
As a dual citizen who grew up in Long Island, Neutra, a young leader in the Conservative movement where he studied at the Solomon Schechter School of Long Island, worked as a lifeguard at Ramah’s Nyack camp and was active in the United Synagogue Youth and was president of its Metropolitan New York (METNY) region. “Omer is really a bridge between communities,” Orna said.
Shira Ruderman, executive director of the Ruderman Family Foundation, spoke of the special bond between American Jewry and Israelis, saying, “The last year and a half has proven that we are one people and that a Jew is a Jew. Our joint past, our shared values and common destiny bind us together. As it’s been said, we should find a way to transform this crisis into an opportunity."
For the Neutras, their most pressing concern is the immediate fate of the hostages. While they continue to honor their son’s memory—through community efforts such as a street renaming in their Long Island hometown—their primary focus remains on holding both the Israeli and American governments accountable for securing the return of all captives.
“We will think about, ‘How do we keep that burning flame of leadership and the love of Israel and the connection to Israel as his legacy?’” Ronen Neutra said. “But we’re not there yet. We’re still in the fight to get him and the rest of the hostages back.”
University of Haifa President Prof. Gur Alroey echoed the Neutras’ sentiments and added, “As a society, we were guilty of abandoning Oren Shaul and Hadar Goldin. We allowed their parents to stand alone, without our support behind them,” he said, referring to the two soldiers who fell in battle during 2014’s Operation Protective Edge. While Shaul’s body was recovered, Goldin’s remains are still in Gaza.
Alroey, who also serves in a reservist unit focused on recovering missing soldiers, spoke of his long-standing commitment to ensuring the return of fallen Israeli soldiers and the importance of maintaining this responsibility for the current generation. “There will be no forgiveness, and I apologize to Israeli society if we do not stand behind the missing soldiers, both the living and the dead,” he said. “We must keep this issue at the forefront of our public agenda. We are one nation, one society, and hostages above all. We must stand behind these families so they know they are not alone. Only after we bring them back can we heal.”
It is a fight, Alroey argued, that can’t be waged alone. “We need American Jewry, we need the Israeli Americans who live there, and we also need solidarity, not just from Israeli society, but from the entire Jewish people,” he said. “I hope we will know how to unite and find all our inner strength, rise above the divisions, and help this family, and also all the other families.”.
