Neither Israel nor Hamas 'does enough for peace, for the hostages and all human civil Palestinians'
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00:00 We're going to talk now with Ange Calderon, who joins me live from the south of France.
00:05 Ange, you had three family members, distant cousins, who were kidnapped October 7th.
00:10 Two of them, thankfully, 16-year-old Sahar and 12-year-old Erez, have been released,
00:14 but their father, Offer, is still in captivity.
00:17 In addition, two other members of your family, the boy's 80-year-old grandmother and a 12-year-old
00:22 girl, were brutally murdered during that attack on their kibbutz.
00:26 And you're also the president of the October 7th Association here in France.
00:30 First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us.
00:32 Yes, thanks to you.
00:35 Ange, first of all, just let me say how sorry I am for your loss.
00:41 This is such a horrific time for your family, and we do truly appreciate the work you're doing
00:45 to try and get your cousin, Offer, and the other hostages out of captivity.
00:49 But I want to ask you more specifically about your own family.
00:52 It's been 10 days now since young Sahar and Erez were released.
00:56 How are they doing at the moment?
00:58 You know, their body is quite OK.
01:03 But about the mental, they are completely destroyed.
01:06 They don't speak.
01:09 They don't speak too much, like, you know, the rescue of the shore.
01:16 They come back from horrible scamp, and they don't speak.
01:24 Erez is 12 years old, so we find again a little smile, and it's quite OK.
01:33 But for Sahar, it's very difficult.
01:36 Yeah, she's just 16.
01:39 What's being done to help them deal with this trauma, the trauma of these weeks in captivity?
01:44 The captivity was very hard.
01:48 The condition was very hard.
01:50 They don't suffer really about physical bad treatments, but about psychological treatment,
01:59 it was very hard, very, very hard.
02:01 And they are now living in Tel Aviv, but there's fear that some people from Hamas can come
02:11 in Tel Aviv, and they live hour by hour, completely terrified.
02:19 Ange, I imagine there was a lot of relief for your family to have these two young people
02:24 back home, but their father, Offer, is still being held by Hamas in Gaza, one of 138 hostages
02:30 still being held.
02:31 Do you have any news at all about his situation?
02:34 Is he in good health?
02:35 No, we have any news since many weeks.
02:41 Some people saw him a few weeks ago, but since more than four weeks, we have any news.
02:50 We don't know if he's alive or not.
02:53 So it was very difficult for Sahar and Erez.
02:58 We have to tell them that the grandmother is dead, their cousin is dead, and...
03:05 Sorry, I missed your trick.
03:11 I am very sorry.
03:13 I think it's good.
03:14 No, it's all right, Ange.
03:15 You're still with us.
03:16 Can you still hear me?
03:17 Yes, I hear you.
03:20 I don't see you anymore.
03:21 So I said it's very hard to tell them all this thing, that the grandmother is dead,
03:28 their cousin is dead.
03:29 And when they ask about the father, they say, "Where is my father?
03:32 I want to see him."
03:33 We have to say to them, "Oh, my dear, my dear, your father, we don't know really where he is.
03:42 He's supposed to be in Gaza.
03:43 He's supposed to be alive.
03:45 But we are not sure.
03:46 And we cannot tell you when you will see him again.
03:52 That's terrible, you know?"
03:53 It's truly awful.
03:55 There was a very tense meeting in Israel this week between the Israeli government and some
04:00 of the hostages who had been released recently, some of the family members of those still
04:05 in captivity.
04:06 In that meeting, the families and the former hostages were very critical of the government.
04:11 Do you think the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doing enough to help get the
04:16 hostages home?
04:17 You know, in this situation, nobody does enough.
04:22 I think that about the Israeli government.
04:26 But I think that Hamas doesn't do enough, too, that Mr. Yahya Sinwar doesn't do what
04:34 he must do.
04:36 And Mr. Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar is the same case.
04:41 So nobody does enough.
04:43 Nobody does enough for peace and for hostages and for all the human civil Palestinians.
04:51 Because we don't have to forget that when we see many civilian Palestinians, they say,
04:59 "Well, it's not our fault."
05:01 Yes, but the fault is to Hamas.
05:04 The fault is of the 7th of October and not the 8th of October.
05:09 You understand?
05:09 Ange, you're the president of an association here in France, the October 7th Association.
05:16 What are you doing to put pressure on authorities here or in Israel to try and make sure that
05:22 all of these hostages get released?
05:23 We are doing whatever we can do.
05:27 We are meeting with politicians.
05:30 We are meeting with all the media.
05:34 It's the reason why I am speaking with you.
05:37 And all the action to free all the hostages, not only the French one, but all the
05:46 hostages.
05:47 And after, we have all purpose in the association.
05:51 It's help between the family, between all the family of hostages, of dead people.
05:57 We have to forget, to not forget them.
06:01 And after, we have to work about the memory of this day in the years, future years.
06:11 Indeed.
06:11 Ange, thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us.
06:14 Ange Calderon, thank you very much.
06:15 Thank you so much for my English, bye.
06:17 (laughs)