Thank you, Rimon, for your courage.

I remember the day she was released. I remember the footage of the way she was speaking to her captor, with such vehemence and defiance.

When former hostage Rimon Buchshtab-Kirscht was finally driven toward the Red Cross after 53 days in Hamas captivity, her captor tried one last time to torment her.

"Yagev will be here in two days," he told her.

"Yagev will be here in four days."

He was referring to her husband, Yagev Buchshtab, who had been kidnapped alongside her from Kibbutz Nirim on October 7 and remained in Gaza. He would later be murdered in captivity.

Then the terrorists coached her on how to behave.

"Smile and wave," they told her in English.

"Don't be afraid."

But Rimon says that by then, hunger and exhaustion had left little room for fear.

Instead, she cursed her captor in Arabic so everyone around them would understand.

Looking him in the eye, she told him:

"Just because you're masked doesn't mean I can't see you.

Just because your eyes are covered doesn't mean I don't recognize your voice or remember what you did to me."

Then she ended with a phrase every Arab speaker would understand:

"Every dog has his day."

Can you imagine having the strength to say this to your captors' faces?

During her time in Gaza, she negotiated with Sinwar, stabbed her captors to protect her husband(multiple times), was s*xually assaulted, and still came out of Gaza blazing like a lioness.

This interview from former hostage Rimon Buchshtab-Kirscht is an absolute must-read.

Here is a quote that's unbelievable: “If you need to stab a terrorist, you stab a terrorist,” she said.

This is her first long-form interview (she gave it to Channel 12) since her release two years ago, and her story deserves to be heard. I'm putting the link to the TOI article down below in the comments.

Thank you, Rimon, for your courage.