Symbolic Hourglass: Commemorating 100 Days of Captivity for Israeli Hostages

The tribute will be brought to the UN building, then to Times Square, and ending in the New York’s Jewish Museum.

By Batya Jerenberg

A massive hourglass recently erected in Tel Aviv to represent the plight of some 130 hostages Hamas is still holding will be flown to New York to mark the hundredth day of their captivity next week, Ynet reported Sunday.

Two weeks ago, the Ramat Hashnaim non-profit organization that constructed the working timepiece set it up in front of the Habimah Theater, under the title “Time is Running Out.” A huge sign on top of the theater says “Bring Them Home.”

“The clock weighs about 300 kilograms (661 pounds) and is about three and a half meters (11.5 feet) high,” said chairman Eyal Rom. “Once every hour and a half it is turned [over] to demonstrate the flow of sand.”

He said that the idea of bringing it to New York came from a group of Israelis who now live in “the city that never sleeps” and who are active in raising awareness about the hostages’ plight.

“They asked us to prepare an identical clock for activities marking the 100 days,” Rom said.

Instead, they decided to bring the original over.

“It had to be disassembled into four parts that would be flown to the U.S., and be reassembled there,” he said. “We got El Al to fly the clock in on a passenger plane at its own expense.”

The hourglass will first be brought to the plaza in front of the UN building in the middle of Manhattan, where a demonstration for the hostages will take place on Friday, the 100th day since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, massacring 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostages.

The current plan is for the huge clock to then be placed several blocks away, in Times Square, for an unknown period, before being moved to what could be its final destination, New York’s Jewish Museum.

“This is a worldwide operation, whose sole purpose is to arouse global public opinion in favor of the release of the abductees,” Rom noted.

Over a week’s time in late November, Israel released about 250 Palestinian security prisoners who were minors or female in exchange for 81 Israeli minors and women who had been abducted, and truckloads of humanitarian aid. Five other Israelis had been freed previously, with no obvious strings attached.

Almost two dozen Thai agricultural workers were released together with the women and children as part of a separate deal Bangkok had woven with Hamas’ Iranian paymasters.

Since then, Hamas has refused to make any deals, saying that Israel must stop the war first, something that the government refuses to do as it believes only military pressure will advance the hostages’ cause.

Many of the hostages’ families say that their loved ones’ freedom is more important than destroying Hamas’ terror threat once and for all, and have been pressing for Israel to do anything that the terrorists demand to gain their release. Some of the families agree with the government and the majority in the country who say the best way to get their relatives back is by continuing the war full force.