Hostages’ families are expected to travel to Washington, D.C., on Saturday to take part in a unity rally on Sunday.
By Amelie Botbol, JNS
Over a dozen influencers participated in an intimate evening conversation on Thursday in New York City with families of hostages being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“The objective of this event is to foster understanding of why we need people to continue supporting the issue of the hostages and why the hostages should be a priority and come first,” said Leat Corinne Unger, the cousin of Hamas captive Omer Shem Tov’s mother Shelly.
“It’s hard with the Lebanese front and the election, all these different things that are taking away a lot of the attention from the issue which should be the priority and that’s human life,” she told JNS.
Addressing the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, Unger said she had no choice but to remain hopeful.
“Unfortunately until now the Biden administration has not secured the release of my cousin so maybe with the election of Trump we will see a change,” she said.
“To the Israeli people I say continue to love and fight for each other, stay united and don’t let the noise drown out the important part of what we are standing for, and that’s never leaving anyone behind,” she added.
Speakers at the event included relatives of Hamas captives Oded Lifshitz, Omri Miran and brothers Eitan and Yair Horn.
“We have had a hard fight. I really appreciate all the work you’re doing and I really think that emphasizing the hostage situation is essential,” Daniel Lifshitz, the grandson of Oded Lifshitz, told the assembly.
“We killed [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah, we killed [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar, we killed [Hamas military leader Mohammed] Deif, we fought in many places and won. While we can’t forget Oct. 7 now is our time to push to bring our people back home,” he continued.
While Lifshitz’s grandfather remains in Hamas captivity, his grandmother Yocheved Lifshitz, who was also kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, was released over a year ago, in late October.
“My grandmother suffered so much. I wish the world would see how she was kidnapped, an eighty-six year old woman on her stomach on a motorbike, she looked back and saw my grandfather lying … on the ground, unconscious, injured by a bullet, a man who fought for peace all his life,” said Lifshitz.
“I fought and I will keep fighting every day. We still have 29 hostages from Kibbutz Nir Oz. I’m looking forward to your help, which means so much for us, to stick together, because we have no other country and we will never be able to survive and have a future if the hostages don’t come back,” he added.
Influencers and hostages’ relatives pose for a photo at a gathering in New York, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: Amelie Botbol.
The gathering was organized by Dana Cwaigrach, the head of the New York Hostage and Missing Families Forum.
“We invited a very select group of people to have a private conversation with the family members of the hostages to discuss what the past year has been like and how influencers can further help the hostages now that we are a year-plus into this,” Cwaigrach told JNS on Thursday.
Hostages’ families are expected to travel to Washington, D.C., on Saturday to take part in a unity rally the following day.
“There’s going to be a new president. We’re still here to say that the way to get our hostages home is through a deal, and we are asking President Biden and President-elect Trump to get this done and bring our people home,” she continued.
“There’s nothing more important than bringing our people home. A hostage deal, I believe and that’s what our security officials say, is the way to ensure the safety of our country and of the hostages. We can’t let them rot in there, it’s immoral and it is not a Zionist thing,” Cwaigrach added.
Influencers participating in the event included Columbia University professor Shai Davidai and social media personality Lizzy Savetsky.
“I think we’ve had a lot of distractions lately with the elections and everything else happening in the world. We need to remember that our top priority should be our hostages,” Savetsky told JNS at the event.
“I am here tonight to ground myself in the fight for our hostages. We still have over 100 in Gaza. I’ve become very close with a lot of their family members that are here tonight and it’s important for me to show my support to them. I have their backs, they are not alone in this and I will continue to do everything I can,” she added.
Savetsky’s journey into advocacy, she said, started in 2021 after Hamas targeted Israel with a barrage of rockets.
“Instead of sympathizing with Israel and all the innocent civilians that had been killed, the world jumped to demonize Israel and Jews all over the world simply because of Israel’s response,” she said.
“By the time Oct. 7 came, I was in Israel in a bomb shelter with my family on that day, and I knew already exactly how it would play out,” she continued.
“I knew my life would change, everyone Jewish person’s life changed, but specifically I felt like I had a critical role to play to use my voice to spread truth and [combat] lies,” she added.
Stand-up comedian Daniel Ryan Spaulding, who is not Jewish, also participated in the event.
“When I’m able to try to help and come to these events I do because I want the hostage families to know I care about them and that there are people spreading the word, and people that have been dedicated to this from the very start,” Spaulding told JNS.
“Hopefully when the hostages are released they’ll see and know that there are people that cared,” he added.
Influencers received merchandise including sweatshirts, beanies and stickers and exchanged tips on how to promote awareness of the plight of the hostages while vowing to collaborate with one another on social media in an effort to bring about their release.
“I was born in Damascus, Syria, I came to the United States in 1994 with my family. Jews weren’t allowed to emigrate prior to 1992, prior to the United States reaching a treaty with Damascus that freed the Jews of Syria,” said Abraham Hamra, who attended the event.
“For us Jews, life is everything, and the lives of our hostages mean everything to me. It’s our obligation to continue fighting for the release of our hostages. I am here to show my support for the hostages and to the Israel Defense Forces to finish the job, to get our hostages back and defeat this enemy,” he said.
“The election just ended, everybody has different feelings of how it went but I think it’s important to refocus and understand the mission at hand, redeem the hostages and defeat our enemy once and for all,” he added.