MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
This next conversation speaks to the love between cousins. As with siblings, there is usually shared history but often without all the bickering and the rivalries. For LeElle Slifer, that shared history included summers spent with her cousin, Carmel Gat, in Israel at her grandmother's kibbutz.
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LEELLE SLIFER: We used to help Tovah make labneh in her little kitchen in the kibbutz, and we would eat artikin (ph) - popsicles - and bask in the golden sun without a fear in the world, the way you can only do in your youth.
KELLY: That's Slifer speaking at a vigil Tuesday night here in Washington. The service was dedicated to her cousin and the five other Israeli hostages whose bodies were recovered over the weekend. LeElle Slifer joins me now from her home in Dallas, Texas, to remember her cousin. I want to say welcome and also how very sorry I am for your loss.
SLIFER: Thank you, I appreciate it. And thank you for having me to talk about Carmel.
KELLY: We just heard your memory of some of the summers with her. What else would you like people to know about Carmel?
SLIFER: Carmel was the most peaceful, spiritual person. She was amazing. She devoted her life to others. She was an occupational therapist. She traveled to India. She loved helping children. And you could really see that from the stories that we heard of some of the hostages that she was kept with. She - they were released in November, teenagers, and they said that while they were being held captive, Carmel would do yoga with them and teach them how to do guided meditations to help keep them sane. They called her their guardian angel, and I believe to the very end she was doing that, putting others ahead of herself.
KELLY: Yeah. I want to ask about some of the other hostages, including the dozens of hostages still in captivity. And I want to play you - this is the phrase we've heard over and over at that vigil last night.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Chanting) Bring them home now. Bring them home now. Bring them home now.
KELLY: Bring them home now - LeElle Slifer, what steps would you like to see the Israeli government take to achieve that?
SLIFER: It's very difficult because I'm in the U.S., and I don't know the Israeli government as well as I know the U.S. government and all the steps they are taking. But I do know that the U.S. has consistently said over the last year that Israel has accepted proposals, U.S.-backed proposals. They have - I believe Secretary Blinken called them serious. President Biden said the same thing. And so Israel, I believe, is making a good-faith effort to bring these hostages home, and it is time for the U.S. and the international community to start pressuring Hamas to do the same.
KELLY: Yeah. I mean, you're talking about efforts to reach some kind of cease-fire, a cease-fire that would include Hamas releasing hostages. This is a tough question to ask, but I am curious. Are you at all sympathetic to the reasons that Israel's leaders have given for not doing that, at least not so far? - that if Hamas is not defeated, if Israel pulls out too soon, Hamas will rebuild, it will attack again, more hostages could be taken?
SLIFER: I am sympathetic to that. I mean, think about what - you know - the only thing that's different now is they've killed our hostages, and we put pressure on Israel because they killed our hostages. That's simply going to embolden terrorists in the future. And I do sympathize with that. I know not everyone agrees, and I know it's a really difficult position to be in, but we have to start putting pressure on Hamas. It has to come from not just the U.S. but the rest of the world.
KELLY: Before I let you go, what would you say to the leaders of Israel and the U.S. about what families like yours, families of the hostages, are going through?
SLIFER: You cannot keep waiting. This has to get done. It has to get done right away. We cannot expect to get everyone out by force. It has to be done with a global deal, and I beg the United States administration to stand with Israel and to stand with the rest of the world in making sure that happens.
KELLY: LeElle Slifer - her cousin, Carmel Gat, was one of the six hostages recently killed by Hamas. Thank you.
SLIFER: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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