Dani Miran, the father of Omri who is held captive in Gaza, spoke to journalist Yoni Kempinski at the Arutz Sheva-Israel National News Jerusalem Conference in New York City and spoke about the Israeli parade in the city that brought him and his family to tears. "It is not a given fact that people should leave their homes, leave their jobs, and come to show solidarity with us and with all of Israel. It is very moving. What gives us strength to carry on is you, the people of Israel, both in the homeland and the diaspora. I would never have believed that the people of Israel could be like this,” Miran said. “Two and a half months ago, I sat with a group of 26-28 Americans from Chicago. I said, ‘I am Dani Miran from Yesud HaMa'ala, a 140-year-old settlement. I am the father of Omri. I have four children, three sons, and a daughter—this is my sweet daughter.’ And a woman from the group, whom I did not know, started crying. I finished my remarks and asked if there were any questions. No questions, so what's the problem? ‘I'm emotional,’ she said. ‘Why are you emotional? Tell everyone so we can share it together.’ Then she said, 'How is it that you, Dani Miran, came to us out of all the families, 125, 130 families, and you are telling us about Omri?’ [I replied,] ‘Omri is my son, and I'm talking about Omri.' Then she told me, 'Omri has been with us at home for four months. His picture is hung on the dining room chair. I light a candle every day, and every Friday for him, I bake challah.' She showed me the pictures, and tears came to my eyes. This is the real people of Israel." "For eight months, I have been in Tel Aviv. In these eight months, I have been home four times. A month and a half after being in Tel Aviv, having disconnected from my other life, my daughter called me and said, 'Dad, have you forgotten that you have three other children?' So we arranged to have dinner together on Shabbat." Related articles: The Arutz Sheva Jerusalem Conference in New York is Back AFSI Chairman Mark Langfan addresses Jerusalem Conference in NYC The Jewish 'influencers' that are fighting the battle online 'We need to control Gaza for many years to come' When asked if they are speaking to the world and raising their voices, and if change is possible, Miran replied, "The world is shocked. Many hate us, and it's no wonder. We are very few. Take the US, for example—we have one ambassador, but they have dozens of ambassadors to the Arab countries. We can't compete in such a race, which is why the hatred toward us is much greater. Moreover, the world loves us weak. The world doesn't love us strong. For example, how many people here remember the time before the Six-Day War? All the Arab countries were poised to destroy us—Egypt, Syria, Morocco sent a brigade to Syria, Iraq sent a brigade to Syria, Libya sent a brigade to Syria. The balance of forces was impossible, and the feeling in Israel was that we were going to be wiped out. Then volunteers came from all over the world because we were weak and they came to help us. By God's grace, we won that war, and then the world started to hate us—we are occupiers, we are taking over the world. The same thing happened on October 7th. The world was with us until we showed our strength, and now it is challenging because the world is not with us."
