'If you need to stab a terrorist, you do': What we can learn from a former hostage - editorial

ByJPOST EDITORIALJULY 22, 2026 05:38It’s sometimes easy with the sensory overload on the news and social media to forget that all that has transpired was born on October 7 and the massacre of some 1,200 Israelis and abduction of some 200 more into Gaza at the hands of Hamas.There’s been extensive documentation of that heinous day and of the harrowing experiences the hostages endured in captivity, and most former hostages have come forth and related their life-affirming stories of survival.However, even now, some two and a half years later, every new disclosure and personal story offers another vital chapter in chronicling the living history of the attack that prompted the wars we’ve been involved in ever since and in keeping memories of what caused it at the forefront.That’s why Rimon Buchshtab-Kirscht’s decision to come forward and tell her story for the first time about her and her husband’s abduction by Hamas and her consequent captivity and release is so important.The 39-year-old Buchshtab-Kirscht and her husband, Yagev B., were taken captive by Hamas from Kibbutz Nirim. Rimon was released during a week-long deal on November 28, 2023; Yagev’s death in captivity in Gaza was announced by the IDF on July 22, 2024.(ILLUSTRATIVE) A released hostage is helped by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross upon arrival at the Rafah border crossing, amid a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Egypt on November 28, 2023. (credit: Al Qahera News/Reuters TV via REUTERS)'I just spoke to him the way they deserve'Buchshtab-Kirscht became a symbol of Israeli resilience when she defiantly glared at her captor upon her release as the entire nation watched live on TV. The image of her angrily saying something to her masked captor before taking the arm of older female hostage Meirav Tal and proudly walking to freedom went viral, but only this week, in an extensive interview with Ynet, did she reveal what she had said.“I just spoke to him the way they deserve, like the sons of b***** they are,” she told Ynet. “I shouted at him, ‘Just because you’re masked doesn’t mean I can’t see you, and just because your eyes are covered doesn’t mean I don’t recognize your voice or remember what you did to me, and ‘kul kalb biji yomo’ [every dog has his day in Arabic].”'If you need to stab a terrorist, you stab a terrorist'In the interview, Buchshtab-Kirscht recounted how she and Yagev, who married in 2021, were brutally rousted from their home and incarcerated in cages in Gaza, a period that included beatings and sexual assaults. In another interview with Channel 12 on Monday, she recounted that she stabbed her captors on multiple occasions, both during her abduction and in captivity.“If you need to stab a terrorist, you stab a terrorist,” she said.When hostage releases began in late November, during a week-long ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the couple’s captors declared that Rimon would be released without Yagev.Buchshtab-Kirscht told Ynet that she begged her captors to release a different hostage instead, pleading: ‘I don’t ask for much, not for medicine, not for toilet paper, I’m ready to stay here, with all the fleas, with my broken tooth and my broken face.’ But they insisted it had to be me.”Buchshtab-Kirscht made it home, but her husband didn’t. It has taken her until now to publicly talk about her harrowing ordeal and the tragic aftermath. Since October 7, the IDF has made it its mission to carry out the declaration that Buchshtab-Kirscht made to her captor upon her release, and it has, one by one, been eliminating every terrorist who was connected with October 7 and the subsequent inhumane holding of the hostages.'Keep your head up'That long memory is how Israel has survived and how we manage to carry on amid the atrocities of October 7. In her interview, Buchshtab-Kirscht also recounted what she said to her fellow captive Tal as they began their short walk to the awaiting Red Cross and their freedom: “Keep your head up. We’re going to walk through this as two strong women, together.”Today, some two and a half years later, it’s all the more imperative for all of us to take a few moments to get off the breathless news treadmill and reflect on the pure evil events of that day – and more importantly, on the heroism of Rimon Buchshtab-Kirscht, whose advice we could all take a moment to internalize.Follow us on Google