Ex-US envoy says he struggled to persuade Israelis to prioritize hostages’ safety after October 2023

Jack Lew, who served as US ambassador to Israel after October 2023, said he struggled to persuade his Israeli counterparts to prioritize the safety of Israeli-American hostages following Hamas' attack. "There was no obligation that was greater for an American diplomat than worrying about Americans," Lew said at a Columbia University event on Wednesday, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz. "While the issue of the hostages was right at the top of my concerns, it was nowhere near the top of the concerns of the interlocutors I had in the government," he added. Lew said the Israeli government took advantage of then-US President Joe Biden’s support for Israel during the ensuing war. He argued that Washington’s ability to influence Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza was limited because Israeli officials knew Biden was reluctant to significantly curtail US assistance. "Unless you're willing to say, 'Do it our way or we're going to be leaving you on your own,' you didn't have the leverage to make the kind of difference that you would have liked," the former envoy stated. Biden "wasn't going to abandon Israel – there was no credible scenario in which he was going to abandon Israel – and I think that was taken advantage of," he said. Since Oct. 8, 2023, Israel has bombarded the Gaza Strip from the air and land, imposed a siege and mounted a ground offensive after a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas. Over 74,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 175,000 others injured in the Israeli onslaught since then, according to Gaza’s health authorities. The Israeli army continues its strikes despite a ceasefire that has been in effect since Oct. 10, 2025. More than 1,460 Palestinians were killed and over 5,160 others wounded during the Israeli truce violations.