With major rally marking 6 months to Oct. 7 attack, several thousands of demonstrators gathered in Dag Hammarskoljd square across from UN headquarters chant: “Bring them home-now!” Many are waving Israeli flags and carrying posters with photos of the hostages.
An installation depicting the plight of Israeli hostages greets arrivals at the rally.
A vigil opens with a few songs in Hebrew and a new song in English called “Hey Joy” dedicated to Canadian-Israeli peace activist Vivian Silver who was murdered in her home on Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7. The song was written by her close fried Susan Lax.
On the podium is a poster that says “Time is Running Out.” Shany Granot Lubaton, a leading organizer and co-head of Hostage Family Forum chapter in U.S., said there are some 150 organizations and synagogues participating. ” This is by far the broadest coalition of Jewish community we’ve had, and it shows how sacred this cause is for all of us.”
The former-hostage Louis Har, who was rescued in a military operation, said, in Hebrew: “I was 129 days before heroic release by IDF. I’m here, I’m alive. And I can only hope all others will released too.”
Idan, his son-in-law, now speaking in English, continues in Louis’s name: “I will never forget hate of Hamas terrorists who broke into our house, taken into captivity in pajamas. We never could have believed such a thing could happen. I’m here today to shout out loud on behalf of all 133 still in Gaza: they must come home – now!”
“I know that every moment being hostage of Hamas is pure nightmare,” he added.
Congressman Jerry Nadler gets wildly booed for calling for more humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza. “We are better than Hamas,” he says.
Rachel Goldberg, mother of hostage Hersch Goldberg-Polin, erupts in tears as she begins to speak. “We have never felt so much love from so many people we’ve never met.”
“We do an injustice when we erase non-Jews when we talk about who is still being held captive,” she added. She mentions all the Arab citizens and citizens from other countries.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who wasn’t on the roster of speakers, said: “Nobody can preach us about proportionality when there’s one man or woman in tunnels of Gaza. The whole world needs to apply pressure not on Israel but on Hamas, on Qatar.”
NYC Congressman Dan Goldman said it’s “truly unconscionable and unimaginable that we could be sitting here six months later with U.S. citizens still in captivity. Is it only because they’re Jewish? This is not only an attack on Israel but on the Western world and our democratic way of life. This conflict not only Hamas vs. Israel but tyranny vs. democracy and evil vs. good. Hamas must lay down its arms. The only way there will be a cease-fire is if hostages are released.”
“I call on Biden admin, all my colleagues in Congress, we must put pressure on Hamas, through countries that harbor them, to release hostages,” he added.