Thousands of people joined an Israeli-American Council (IAC) rally in Times Square Thursday night demanding the terrorist group Hamas release the hundreds of hostages it captured in the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel. “Bring them home, bring them home,” thousands of people packing Duffy Square chanted.
The IAC rally brought the hostages’ story to the very heart of Times Square. Fifteen billboards projected their faces while hostage family members spoke and others appeared in a special hologram display. New York Mayor Eric Adams, Israeli-American Council CEO Elan Carr, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Israel’s Permanent Representative to the UN. Gilad Erdan, and others demanded Hamas free the hostages now.
“We know the great tradition of Israel is to fight for every one of its citizens when they are in danger, no matter how daunting,” said Schumer. “Hamas thought they could frighten the Israelis into submission. It has done just the opposite. By taking the hostages it has made us stronger, more united, and closer to Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel).”
Carr noted that the massacre took place on Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, which Jews observe to sanctify God’s creation. “What a stark contrast to these agents of hell itself, genocidal sadists who turned the sacred into the profane,” he said. Hamas compounded the horrors by taking hostages, “continuing to violate our people, because the families who have loved ones in Gaza are suffering unimaginable agony. It is a crime against humanity every minute they are held in Gaza. We are here today to stand with them, in one voice, shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm, to say today we will not stand for this. The Jewish people and all humanity stand together in outrage. May God turn [the hostages’] darkness into light. Bring them home. Bring them home.”
Erdan said he was outraged that the UN Security Council has ignored the hostages and focused instead on humanitarian aid to Gaza, which Hamas has often hijacked. He plans to bring hostage families to the UN, so its members “can see their pain,” he said. “We will remind the UN that in the wake of the Holocaust it was formed to prevent atrocities like this. Until our hostages are returned,” he added, the UN “will not have a moment of quiet. We will bring them home.”
Other speakers included New York area residents Ronen and Orna Neutra, whose son Omer is a hostage. “We are heartbroken. We are worried. But we are focused and resolute in doing everything in our power to bring Omer back. We thank you for all your support. President Biden, your support means so much to us. All that is happening just intensifies the feeling we are all one. We are urging the Hamas leaders to continue to treat Omer and the rest of the hostages well. We ask you to show us Omer, we want to see him.”
Moshe Emilio Lavi, a recent New York resident whose brother-in-law Omri Meiran is also a hostage, spoke of seeing the Hamas social media feeds of their horrific acts and Omri’s capture, like “a scene from a horror film.” Since that dark day, those who are uniting to free the hostages “are the heroes of Israel, the heroes of the sane world, heroes of anyone with a conscience.”
Appearing via video, Adams likened the Hamas terror to the Emmett Till lynching and how that crime forced the world to confront racism and evil. “This is an Emmett Till moment,” Adams said, “the atrocities inflicted on innocent people. Our voices rise and cascade as we call for the release of our brothers and sisters. Every one of the hostages must be safely returned to their homes.”
The rally led by the New York chapter of the IAC was held in partnership with New York Jewish community organizations and former members of the Israel Defense Forces Spokespersons Unit. Israeli singer Shiri Maimon also performed.
Hamas abducted men, women and children after massacring over 1,400 and injuring over 4,200 people in Israel last week. In this Hamas crime against humanity, the terrorists abducted babies and young children, mothers, disabled people and senior citizens including a Holocaust survivor, after burning, raping and shooting people in cold blood.
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