A coalition of Jewish organizations and their allies rallied in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in Midtown Manhattan on Friday for a “100 Days in Captivity” demonstration calling for the release of the around 130 hostages still held in captivity in the Gaza Strip.
Some 240 Israelis and foreign nationals were seized by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks in southern Israel that also claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people. Nearly half of the hostages were either previously released or died while in captivity.
Holding up signs and posters with the images of the hostages, the crowd broke out in “Bring them Home” chants as family members of the hostages and Gov. Kathy Hochul and Senator Chuck Schumer addressed the few hundred demonstrators.
Referring to the numerous pro-Palestinian protests that have occurred since the Oct. 7 attacks, Hochul publicly asked why more people weren’t as outraged over the suffering of the hostages and their families.
“The way this has been covered is as if it doesn’t matter, that they’re not human beings who deserve our love and compassion and daily focus on what is happening over there,” Hochul said.
Hochul, who visited Israel shortly after the attacks, shared the aftermath she witnessed firsthand.
“There’s a part of me that wants to describe the horrific smells and the sights and the rooms where the young women were mutilated and murdered,” Hochul said. “But there’s another part of me that wants to spare you from that.”
Hochul reminded everyone that Hamas was a terrorist organization that needed to be stopped.
“If we don’t stop them,” Hochul said, “they will continue their scourge to destroy the Jewish people and others.”
Senator Chuck Schumer expressed that the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 were a reminder of much darker days in Jewish history, referring to the Holocaust. The Senate majority leader also visited Israel shortly after the attacks and met with the families of the victims.
“I heard of parents whose little babies were taken. I heard of brothers whose sisters were killed. I heard horrible stories of the brutality, the viciousness of Hamas towards everyone, and particularly the women, and what evil they did to them,” Schumer shared.
Schumer reported that he had talked to President Biden and national security advisors.
“We are not going to let anyone in Washington forget the hostages until they are all home,” Schumer said.
Hila Rotem Shoshani, 13, was captured by Hamas and released in November, one day before her birthday. She described the experience at Friday’s rally.
“Life as a hostage in Gaza is not life, it is hell. I came all the way here to ask the whole world to help us bring back all of the hostages,” Rotem Shoshani said.
The teenager urged the crowd to help bring the hostages home.
“We can’t leave them there. The families are waiting for them. Bring them home,” Hila said.
Fashion designer Julia Haart recalled that the international community was up in arms when the terror group Boka Haram kidnapped over 250 girls in Nigeria in 2014.
“Guess what people in America did? There were signs, there were T-shirts that said ‘Bring Our Girls Home,'” Haart reminded the crowd. She asked where the outrage was for the Jewish women who were sexually assaulted by Hamas terrorists.
“Where are you now? You’re not wearing T-shirts. You’re not screaming in the streets. Why is it that your decency, your courage, your honor, applies to every nationality, every ethnicity, everyone in the world except for Jews?” asked Haart, who shared that she was a rape survivor.
Omer Lubi Granot, director of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, is the cousin of hostage Chen Goldstein-Almog.
Goldstein-Almog was released by Hamas on Nov. 26 as part of a temporary ceasefire deal, along with three of her four children. Goldstein-Almog’s husband Nadav and eldest daughter Yam were killed in the attack on Oct. 7.
Granot shared that his cousin witnessed Hamas terrorists sexually assaulting hostages. Goldstein-Almog and her daughter have been using their platform to educate the public about the atrocities committed by Hamas.
“They’ve met a lot of people in there,” Granot shared. “They know what’s their condition. They met women that has been violated and sexually assaulted. And they promise them to fight for them when they will go out.”
Darren Fields’ cousin Shlomi Ziv was part of the Supernova desert rave security team when tragedy hit on Oct. 7.
Fields told amNewYork that Ziv tried to evacuate as many rave attendees as possible, putting his life in danger. His family hasn’t heard from Ziv, who is considered one of the hostages in Gaza.
Field said he speaks to Ziv’s wife, Miran, daily.
“There’s ups and downs,” Fields said. “We all have ups and downs. But we’re thinking about all the hostages all the time.”
