16/01/2025 – Sydney
NIF Executive Director: “A critical first step. Now let's bring them all home and end this damn war.”
Responding to the news that Israel and Hamas have reached a partial hostage deal and temporary ceasefire, New Israel Fund Australia (NIF) released the following statement:
After months of anguish, some of the hostages will return home to their families and the guns will fall silent in Gaza. We have been waiting for news like this for fifteen months. Four hundred and sixty-seven days. Today we open our arms and celebrate their return. We celebrate this ceasefire.
We also know there will be implementation in two stages. It is our job – the job of Israeli civil society, Australian Jews and all who care about peace and justice – to push for the full implementation of the deal. We need all the hostages home. We need the war to end, for soldiers to come home, and for Gaza to begin to recover.
We feel the profound relief of the hostage families and so many people in Gaza today. But we are still holding our breath. And we will not be able to breathe freely until everyone is free and the war is over.
Today we are hugging the families who have lost loved ones. We are embracing those who are getting them back. And we are looking forward and insisting on a better, more democratic, more just, and more equal future for everyone – Israelis and Palestinian alike.
Today’s news is a critical first step. Now let's bring them all home and end this damn war.
Media contact:
Michael Chaitow (NIF), 0432 629 342
About Us
NIF Australia
NIF Australia was formed in 2011 when Naomi Chazan, then-president of NIF Israel and the former deputy speaker of the Knesset, visited Australia. In the more than ten years since its formation, NIF Australia has raised over $5 million, distributing grants to important civil society organisations in Israel, and facilitating new conversations about Israel inside the Australian Jewish community. Our community promotes freedom, equality and social justice by funding Israeli nonprofits and fostering new discussions in the Australian Jewish community.