Elchanan and Einav Danino, Eshel Gat, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, Gregory and Oxana Lobanov, Michal Lobanov, Naor and Shirit Yerushalmi, and Yigal and Nira Sarusi, the loved ones of Ori, Carmel, Hersh, Alexander, Eden, and Almog, who were murdered in Hamas captivity, penned an opinion column in TIME Magazine this week in which they condemned the world's silence.
They opened by describing what befell their loved ones: "They languished in miserable conditions for 328 days, then, on Aug. 29, were shot in the head, hands, shoulders, and elsewhere in their battered and starving bodies. Israeli forces found their emaciated corpses two days later in a tunnel 65 feet under a Gazan child’s bedroom. The tunnel was just over two feet wide and 5 ft. 6 in. high. It had minimal oxygen, no light, and no plumbing. Their Hamas captors executed our loved ones at point-blank range, exited the tunnel, and shut a bolted door."
They noted that while Hamas was responsible for abducting, torturing, and murdering their loved ones, many others failed to save them. "Israeli governmental decision-makers had opportunities to reach negotiated settlements to release our loved ones and, for calculations they deemed strategic, they chose not to. These choices will be the eternal legacy of these men. But there are so many other people who could have done so much more to save them—and still, others who will join them as accomplices in avoidable deaths if they stand by and allow malevolent entities to triumph over the passive words of people with power."
They recounted their work to achieve their loved ones' release, traveling around the world, meeting with world leaders, diplomats, celebrities, and others. "They made promises, nodded, held our hands, cried with us, hugged us tightly…and then failed to deliver results."
They revealed: "Celebrities met us in secluded rooms but asked that we never acknowledge publicly that they did so; they feared losing followers. Leaders of humanitarian aid organizations, including the International Red Cross and the World Health Organization, claimed they would like to intervene but could not figure out how. Two Muslim clerics confidentially assured us, wrongly, that our loved ones would be okay because harming hostages violated Islam; but they and too many other religious leaders were publicly silent. More than one of these many people with power assured us that the hostages would survive, that their return was only a matter of time. Some said our loved ones were suffering but surely not dying."
The loved ones posed a painful question: "Two hundred fifty one hostages from 39 nationalities were stolen from their lives and from the world on Oct. 7. Why did the Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Foreign Ministers of those nations never stand, arm in arm, on a global stage and demand their release? Why are the names of the 101 hostages who remain in captivity not on the nightly news in countries around the world? Where is the global outcry calling for their release? Where is the condemnation from the religious and spiritual leaders of the five faiths of the hostages still being held? Where is the economic and diplomatic pressure on Hamas and its sponsors? Why are NATO member countries and US non-NATO allies continuing to operate with favored status while failing to save lives, including those of US citizens? Why has the United States, the world’s strongest superpower—with leverage on all the regional players in this conflict—failed to deploy that power sufficiently and creatively to produce a hostage release and a resolution to this war?"
They warned that bad actors around the world are watching and taking notes on what could be done.
The families conclude with a plea in their loved ones' memory: "Take action now to bring home their 101 brothers and sisters still in Gaza. As Rabbi Hillel famously asked in ancient Jewish law, 'If not now, WHEN?'”