However, it probably wouldn’t have earned Ziva any sympathy points had audiences been told she chose to fully keep her existence a secret from Tony and Tali.
Sure, it’s likely devastating to know that someone you love is out there in the world and unable to return home, but if the opposite involves breaching safety and putting a child at risk, it’s understandable.
For the sake of pure drama, it would have been more emotionally ideal for the writers to craft a situation where Tony and Tali were kept in the dark about Ziva’s survival, only to bring everyone together for a gobsmacking reunion.