A demonstration with 2,500 people took place Friday outside the UN Headquarters in New York. The protesters called on the international community and all involved parties to immediately bring the hostages back home. The assembly was led by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in New York, together with dozens of organizations representing a broad social, religious, and political spectrum - marking an unprecedented collaboration in the Jewish world.
Among the speakers was 13-year-old Hila Rotem Shoshani, who was released from Hamas captivity 50 days ago, and cried out to the world: “I came all the way here to call on the world - bring them all home! Life as a hostage is not a life. Their families are waiting for them! Now. Please!”
The large crowd, comprising both young and old, religious and secular, Israeli and American citizens, repeatedly chanted the demand together to "Bring Them Home Now," again and again. Speakers emphasized from the stage that the remaining 136 hostages are nationals from over 20 countries, belong to five different religions, and range in age from less than a year old to 85 years old.
Other speakers included Senator Schumer, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Yair Moses (the son of hostage Gadi Moses, who came to New York for the 100 Days in Captivity events), Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of Park Avenue Synagogue in New York, Rabbi Rachel Timoner of Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn, and Gili Roman (the brother of released hostage Yarden Roman and close family friend of hostage Carmel Gat).
This weekend, an intensive schedule of events is planned, such as installing a massive hourglass in Times Square, modeled after the one in Habima Square in Tel Aviv. There are also plans for a march in Central Park under the banner, "Run For Their Lives."
Governor of New York Kathy Hochul commented: “I have one message. I want the hostages brought home. I want them brought home now. And I want the rest of the world to start saying the same thing. Because it is barbaric and inhumane to hold them one day longer. Bring them home! People of Israel have a right to defend themselves, and they have a right to bring the hostages home.”
Yair Moses, the son of hostage Gadi Moses, who came to New York for the 100 Days in Captivity events said during his speech: “My father, Gadi Moses, is 79 years old. He, too, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz. In two months he will be celebrating his 80th birthday. Think about that. There are other elderly men there, like my father. No one knows if they will be able to recover from this. Physically or mentally. There are young women there. We have already heard witness accounts that tell of the horrors they have gone through and are still going through. There are young men who are going through terrible and humiliating torture, just because they are Jewish. Israeli. Time is running out, and the longer they stay there the greater the risk to their lives.”
Gili Roman, Yarden Roman’s brother and a close family friend of Carmel Gat, said: “It's tough to understand what it feels like to never be free. Yarden talks about how it feels to always be watched. Every move you make, every moment, you can't escape being watched and controlled by the people who have taken you. There's no place to hide and no way to fight back.Even though we're free, we're being watched too. Every terrorist and jihadist in the world is looking at how we react to terrible things like kidnapping people and using them in wars. They want to see if we're okay with it or if we fight against it. This isn't just a problem for us in Israel, but for everyone in the western world. We should never be okay with this, not just for the sake of Carmel and the other captives, but forgot everyone.”
U.S. Senator Schumer joined the rally as well, and stated: “We are rallying for one reason: to speak in one voice — that we must bring the hostages home. To the families of the hostages - I know the last hundred days have been the worst of your lives; I am here to say: do not give up hope. Since meeting with the families of hostages in Israel, and over the last months, I have had no higher priority than bringing the hostages home safely, and I have engaged — and will continue to engage — the highest levels of the American and Israeli governments to achieve this objective. My prayers remain with all of those killed, the released hostages as they recover at home, and the hostages still held in Gaza at the hands of Hamas. Bring Them Home!”
Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of Park Avenue Synagogue, the largest Conservative Synagogue in New York commented: “Today I stand - we stand – unwavering in our commitment to Israel – a secure, democratic, Jewish state. Two weeks and one hundred days ago. I stood in this exact spot - together with many of you - to let my brothers and sisters fighting in Israel know that they are not alone. Today we affirm: We stand with you! Today we affirm Israel’s right to self-determination and self-defense. To love Israel is to stand by it, to defend it with all our heart, with all our soul, and all our might. Today, I stand here, we stand here, so that the world knows, so that our children know that when the future of Israel was hanging in the balance, we took a stand – for a secure, democratic, Jewish state.”
Rabbi Rachel Timoner, Senior Rabbi of Reform Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn, spoke as well: “More than 100 hostages are bravely waiting, holding out hope day after day. Night after night in Hamas’s tunnels, waiting to be freed. We cannot make them wait one more day. Instead we must demand now, urgently, immediately, without delay: Let my people go! Pidyon shvuyim, freeing the captives, is a mitzvah incumbent upon all of us. It is time now. Let my people go.”
Omer Lubaton-Granot, head of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in New York, addressed the crowd: “This unity is a message to the world leaders here at the UN. It is a message to our leaders in Washington and Jerusalem - the hostages must be the top priority. My cousin, Chen Almog Goldstein, was released from captivity on November 26th. Since then she has been wearing the black shirt of the Families Forum and calling out to the world: time is running out. Chen met the wounded female hostages who are going through a hell of abuse and sexual violence. We are here in her name and in their name to demand: make a deal now.”