October 27, 2026
By Julia Jester
KFAR AZA, Israel — Israeli American Keith Siegel (click here) doesn’t do politics, he said. Even, and especially, after he was kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and held hostage in Gaza for 484 days.
But when asked about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s closing argument going into Tuesday’s voting that only he can keep Israel safe, Siegel simply said, “I don’t agree.”
On the eve of the first election since then, Siegel, now 67, made a rare visit to his home in Kfar Aza, a kibbutz a mile from the Gaza border where 80 people were murdered and 19 were taken captive by Hamas on Oct. 7.
As automatic gunfire and mortar rounds went off in the distance near the Palestinian territory, Siegel said he wanted the devastation and trauma to end.
“I hate war and I hate killing and I hate death, and unnecessary death, from my point of view,” he said. “I don’t only think about us Israelis, I also think about children in Gaza that were born into this reality they didn’t choose.”...
