The families of hostages being held hostage in Gaza urged lawmakers across the political spectrum to place pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while he’s in the United States this week to agree to a hostage deal. They also called on Democrats to press President Joe Biden to aggressively pursue a hostage deal before leaving office, framing it as a potential legacy-maker.

Jon Polin, father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin who will be part of a joint meeting with Biden and Netanyahu later this week, told reporters on Tuesday evening that bipartisan pressure on Netanyahu is critical to convincing him to sign the deal.

“I think that the Republicans are critical this week. And that includes longtime congresspeople that Bibi has a relationship with, like Sen. [Lindsey] Graham [R-SC], it includes the speaker of the House who invited him to speak tomorrow, Mike Johnson, it includes the former president, Donald Trump,” Polin said. “We need bipartisan voices all pushing on him.”

Gil Dickmann, the relative of hostage Carmel Gat, said he thinks Biden is the only person who stands a chance of convincing Netanyahu to sign the deal.

“We need him to do one more thing, which is to make sure that Netanyahu actually signs the paper,” Dickmann said.

Polin, expressing frustration with Netanyahu’s continued calls for “complete victory” over Hamas, said that victory requires bringing the hostages home. 

“I still don’t know what the definition is of complete victory,” Polin said. “I know the definition of total failure, and that is: not bringing home hostages.”

Polin also doesn’t want to hear from Netanyahu “any more that we’re getting closer, I don’t want to hear any more moving goalposts, I don’t want to hear any more excuses.”

He said that if the government wants to continue the war, it should exchange 120 of its leaders’ loved ones for the current hostages, “but our loved ones have paid the price, they need to come home now.”

Hostage family members also argued that the president’s decision to not seek reelection allows him to focus on cementing his legacy, something they believe a final hostage deal could be a part of. 

“We all know about President Biden’s big, difficult, personal announcement that he will be dropping out. What that enables is President Biden to not be caught up in the election season, to not have to be distracted by everything that goes along with being caught up in an election season, and enable him to really focus on his legacy,” Polin said at a House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday, in response to a question from Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the top Democrat on HFAC. 

“Not only should you not all collectively take your foot off the gas, but put it on even harder and make sure that part of your legacy, Mr. President, is that you get the credit for saving the lives of as many hostages as possible. and doing the thing that can most release that pressure … in the region,” Polin continued, calling a hostage deal “something that is within his grasp that is super meaningful, super impactful.”

Jonathan Dekel-Chen, the father of Sagui Dekel-Chen, echoed Polin’s sentiments, telling Meeks, “I think this is a unique opportunity for the president that this can be a bipartisan win. It could definitely, definitely be a bipartisan win for the House, for the Senate, for the administration to get these hostages out, including these eight U.S. citizens.

At the event with reporters on Tuesday evening, hostage family members also highlighted that many Israeli security officials have said that Israel has accomplished its key goals for the war and that a cease-fire would bring more strategic and diplomatic benefits than the continuation of the war.

Additionally, ahead of the speech, more than a dozen Israeli national security officials also warned congressional leaders in a letter that Netanyahu’s speech may “damage … our joint objectives” and as well as U.S. national security interests.

They called on the leaders to urge Netanyahu to “put the safety, security and future of Israel and the Israeli-U.S. strategic relations before his own political and personal interests.”