Op-Ed by H.E. Alona Fisher-Kamm, the Ambassador of Israel
The return on December 10th of the remains of Sudthisak Rinthalak, the last Thai national abducted by Hamas on October 7, 2023, closes a painful circle; but it does not close the wound. His return is not only a moment of relief but a moment of remembrance. It forces us to confront, once again, the human cost of the massacre carried out by Hamas on that dark day.
Forty-seven Thai nationals were murdered during the October 7th attack and in its immediate aftermath. Twenty-eight were abducted into Gaza and later released. Others were injured, physically and emotionally, in an act of brutality that spared no distinction of nationality, religion, or belief.
All the Thai victims, like tens of thousands of other Thai workers, came to Israel to support their families and secure their future. The Government of Israel has assumed full responsibility for the future of all Thai victims’ families. This is not only a practical duty; it is a deeply moral one.
October 7th was not a battlefield clash. It was a massacre. Hamas terrorists crossed into Israel with the explicit intention of murdering civilians. They burned homes, slaughtered families, murdered elderly people and children, raped women, and abducted innocent men and women. Thai agricultural workers, people who had come to Israel to work honestly and support their families, were targeted simply because they were there. This is the real face of Evil, the essence of ideology of hate that has no political goal or logical sense. Just a vision of destruction and terror. Pure terror.
The war that followed did not begin in a vacuum. It began because Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel’s civilian population. Any responsible government would have acted to defend its citizens after such an assault. Israel entered this war with two clear and legitimate objectives: to ensure that Hamas no longer poses a military and terrorist threat to Israel, and to bring home all hostages, Israeli and foreign nationals alike.
Most of the 258 hostages have returned. One Israeli hostage, Ran Gvili, still remains in captivity. As long as even one innocent person is held underground, Israel’s mission is not complete. We hope that his return will allow the implementation of the next phase of the Gaza arrangements and create a reality in which Hamas is no longer able to endanger Israel, its neighbors, or its own population.
Israel does not seek war. Israel seeks peace, but peace that is real, durable, and secure. Peace that allows families displaced from their homes to return safely. Peace that does not leave terrorists in control, rearming and preparing the next massacre. History has taught Israelis, painfully, that peace without security is an illusion.
The return of Sudthisak’s remains reminds us that terrorism knows no borders. It reminds us that the victims of October 7th were not only Israelis. They were Thai workers, foreign students, tourists and families from many nations. Remembering them is not a political act, it is a moral one.
Since October 7th we have seen a growing interest of Thai nationals to work in Israel. Today, over 40,000 Thai nationals live and work in Israel. They can be seen everywhere. They have become an integral part of our society, part of our landscape, part of us. And this is how we honor them, both in life and in death.
At the same time, over 400,000 Israelis travel to Thailand every year, Israelis have long felt at home in Thailand, traveling, studying, and building deep personal connections with Thai society. These two communities are not marginal; they are living symbols of trust, cooperation and mutual respect. Together, these two communities form a strong bridge of understanding and solidarity between our cultures, separated by an 11-hour flight, yet deeply close at heart.
Israel and Thailand share a long friendship built on people-to-people ties. In honoring the memory of Thai victims, we reaffirm that bond. We stand together against terror and with a shared understanding that bridges between peoples should not be built uniquely on tragic experience but through love, mutual respect and shared interests and values.
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