{"id":108723,"date":"2023-11-20T18:05:26","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T16:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=108723"},"modified":"2023-11-20T10:48:58","modified_gmt":"2023-11-20T08:48:58","slug":"26-05-92","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=108723","title":{"rendered":"Remembering the Hostages"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tabletmag.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"center alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.reunion68.com\/Biuletyn\/img\/tablet-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"35%\" \/><\/a><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #000080;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #000080; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tabletmag.com\/sections\/community\/articles\/remembering-hostages-tel-aviv-hamas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Remembering the Hostages<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><br \/>\nHILLEL KUTTLER<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 15px; background: #d0e6fa; width: 100%;\" \/>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>In central Tel Aviv, crowds gather to lobby for the release of those kidnapped by Hamas.<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>.<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/tablet-mag-images.b-cdn.net\/production\/670fde0dd53f641d500455b771fd7629378e62a0-3000x2250.jpg?w=1300&amp;q=70&amp;auto=format&amp;dpr=1\" width=\"100%\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>Placards and banners amid the palm trees on the Kaplan Street traffic island, with the Defense Ministry building in the background<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The faces on 12\u201dx18\u201d placards stare out from seemingly everywhere in central Tel Aviv, as if cautioning passersby to consider, really internalize, each of the more than 240 individuals whom Hamas kidnapped on Oct. 7 and still holds captive in the Gaza Strip.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">At an outdoor seating area of a restaurant in the Sarona Market complex, white plates lay upon two tables on whose seats are taped placards showing Agam Goldstein, 17; Avraham Munder, 78; Yoram Metzger, 80; Erez Calderon, 12; Noa Argamani, 26; and Channa Peri, 79, as if the six Israelis await their meals.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">A few steps away, five other people also seemed to sit and wait, at a bus stop fronting Kaplan Street: Romi Gonen, 23; Jonathan Samerano, 21; Shani Gabai, 25; Ron Sherman, 19; and Oron Shaul, 30. Shaul was killed in battle in 2014, with Hamas holding his body since then in Gaza. Bus No. 89 stopped.\u00a0<em>Together we\u2019ll win<\/em>\u00a0read a message on its right side.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The placards all are black-bordered, with BRING HIM (or BRING HER) appearing prominently in white and HOME NOW! in red. Some say KIDNAPPED on top. All include QR codes to learn more about the individuals.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The captives\u2019 images appear on Kaplan Street on concrete posts, metal security barriers, utility boxes, walls, and building facades. They\u2019re on banners planted in the traffic island, scrawled on taped paper, and on the perimeter of the Kirya, the Defense Ministry, where pedestrians snap pictures of the placards and messages, defying posted warnings against photographing in that sensitive area. They project from the Azrieli Tower\u2019s massive electronic billboard down the street.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em>Every minute counts<\/em>\u00a0reads a cardboard message secured by a yellow ribbon to a tree; yellow ribbons reading\u00a0<em>7-10-23 #BringThemHomeNow<\/em>\u00a0are becoming as common a sight as the placards around town, too.\u00a0<em>Fuck Hamas<\/em>\u00a0is the message hanging at a slant below a traffic sign.\u00a0<em>Bring them home now<\/em>, on a cardboard secured by a ribbon to a plastic chair.\u00a0<em>Save the children<\/em>. A cracked heart.\u00a0<em>Home is empty without them<\/em>. In Spanish:\u00a0<em>Our children hurt now<\/em>. In German:\u00a0<em>Bring her home<\/em>. In French:\u00a0<em>Do not leave me<\/em>. In Japanese:\u00a0<em>Release the abducted people<\/em>. Scores more in English and Hebrew:\u00a0<em>Bring our babies back<\/em>.\u00a0<em>Redeeming of captives now<\/em>.\u00a0<em>It could have been your family<\/em>.\u00a0<em>Save the hostages to save Israel<\/em>.\u00a0<em>Women\u2019s lives matter<\/em>.\u00a0<em>Who are we if they are there?<\/em>\u00a0<em>He\u2019s young\/He\u2019s just a little boy\/Return him home in peace<\/em>.\u00a0<em>Our hearts are with you, dear families of the abducted<\/em>.On the sidewalk, a blue sticker:\u00a0<em>I want to go home; 7\/10<\/em>. Against a backdrop of painted red flowers:\u00a0<em>But to where did the children disappear?\/Those I played with\/Where are all the children?\/Where are they all?\/Who took them from me?\u00a0<\/em>At the center of a flyer headed<em>\u00a0Butterflies of hope<\/em>, a QR code connects to instructions for making paper butterflies.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/tablet-mag-images.b-cdn.net\/production\/20c0eec0d8f864a5af463da12ccf018336b953bb-2000x1500.jpg?w=1080&amp;q=70&amp;auto=format&amp;dpr=1\" width=\"100%\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>Placards of kidnapped people placed at a restaurant table \/ COURTESY THE AUTHOR<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">And this in black, spray-painted on the Defense Ministry\u2019s perimeter wall, the most jarring of messages, attesting to the depravity-beyond-all-depravities during Hamas\u2019 orgy of 1,200 murders and its rape and kidnapping and decapitation and arson and looting:\u00a0<em>Baby in the oven<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">At a tent erected by the Maale Habsor School, people stopped by for commemorative stickers and yellow ribbons. It\u2019s a school serving the now-evacuated kibbutzim in the Gaza Envelope region. Scores of its students, students\u2019 parents, and staff were murdered and kidnapped on Oct. 7.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">On another table, passersby picked up books of psalms and uttered a few. In a blue tarp-covered tent, a stuffed duck, Mickey Mouse, a red bear, a green monkey, and a teddy bear were tied to poles. From yellow tape hung some placards of children: Yuly Konio, 3; Avigail Idan, 3; Alma Or, 13; Gal Goldstein, 11; Tal Goldstein, 9; Noam Avigdori, 12; Ohad Munder Zachri, 9; Ela Elyakim, 8 1\/2; Ariel Bibas, 4; Kfir Bibas, 9 months.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">That\u2019s where Menashe Bohbot stood, pressing stickers into the shirts and jackets of everyone walking by. No one objected.\u00a0<em>10.7: The Day of Mourning<\/em>, the stickers read. His family takes shifts here and at the city\u2019s other site where loved ones of the kidnap victims congregate, just a few hundred yards away.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">His cousin, Jerusalem resident Elkana Bohbot, 34, was working as a bartender at the trance music festival on Kibbutz Reim when Hamas kidnapped him. Menashe last saw Elkana a month prior.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cI want people to know we care about all of the captives,\u201d said Bohbot, a retiree from Kiryat Gat. \u201cI\u2019m here 12 hours a day: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. We\u2019re demonstrating outside the Kirya so [Hamas] returns our kidnapped people intact and healthy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">One person on whom Bohbot adhered a sticker was Omri Casspi, a Tel Avivian best known as the first Israeli to play in the National Basketball Association.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cWe\u2019re all together in this. We want them back. These savages took them,\u201d said Casspi, who\u2019s received supportive messages from NBA players, coaches, and owners. Some told him they\u2019re praying for Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">He considered a question about the Israeli public\u2019s embrace of the families.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cObviously, keeping pressure on the political leaders to bring them back and to maintain the support of the world\u2014this is what we\u2019re focused on, for people to understand that babies are being held by terrorists,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a war crime.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Casspi is using social media to keep attention on children Hamas kidnapped.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">He turned his phone to show me Emilia Aloni, who was kidnapped with her mother Daniel from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Emilia, 5, \u201clooks like my daughter a little,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cI can\u2019t imagine what these kids are going through. Where do they eat? Where do they sleep?\u201d Casspi said. \u201cI pray for them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<div class=\"Divider Divider--dotted-rule overflow-hidden\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Around the corner, at a plaza fronting the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the Beit Ariella Library on Shaul Hamelech (King Saul) Street, is the other, far larger center of the families and friends lobbying for their loved ones\u2019 release from Hamas\u2019 captivity. A street sign, wrapped in barbed wire, stands in the middle:\u00a0<em>The Hostages and Missing Square<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">For an outdoor location downtown, the atmosphere is surprisingly subdued. It feels like a quiet vigil, almost a shiva house. People speak, but softly. There\u2019s no vocal arguing or speechmaking. The tone is respectful. Snippets of conversations attest to the central topics at hand: people\u2019s own turmoil, rumors of deals to release the captives, where a captive was that fateful day, the funerals, massive failures in preparedness and response on Oct. 7, the post-Oct. 7 anger at the government for its inattentiveness: its not picking up the pieces, not sending officials to extend comfort and information and empathy and encouragement.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">But even those murmurs aren\u2019t overtly anti-government, which, in politically charged Israel, says a lot. After all, the massive judicial-reform demonstrations occurred at the nearby Azrieli Tower.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/tablet-mag-images.b-cdn.net\/production\/f2150ba197b22a09f4f544d8dfb11947c4e3cf54-1500x2000.jpg?w=1200&amp;q=70&amp;auto=format&amp;dpr=1\" width=\"100%\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>zrieli\u2019s electronic billboard at night \/ COURTESY THE AUTHOR<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The plaza itself has become a quasi-museum to the nation\u2019s ongoing trauma. It\u2019s an obscene museum, really, in which stimulation abounds for the consumption of visitors, whose numbers grow as the workday ends. It\u2019s also a vital support system for the families. Imagine their compounded pain were no one to stop by to listen, to absorb, to commiserate.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">A small stage is where top performers appear most evenings. At the library\u2019s steps, rabbinical students in the Conservative movement lead prayers and somber singing at nightfall. Placards and stickers and pictures are everywhere. A man in a golf cart sells Israeli flags and\u00a0<em>Am Yisrael Chai<\/em>\u00a0(the Jewish people live) posters. Someone at a table cuts yellow\u00a0<em>7.10.23<\/em>\u00a0ribbons for free distribution. Art evokes the kidnapping victims.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The captives\u2019 loved ones are Exhibit A. Some members of Kibbutz Nachal Oz, one of the ravaged kibbutzim, and their supporters sat in an open white tent. In one of its corners, a box rested under a tree, and next to it blank paper and markers. A woman prompted visitors to write messages for the captives to read on this very spot when they\u2019re liberated. One note reads:\u00a0<em>Our beloved people, how good that you\u2019ve returned. You\u2019re finally back, intact, in the heart of the country, and how wonderful that this day of your return has arrived.\u00a0<\/em>Another says:\u00a0<em>Romi Gonen, we\u2019re waiting for you here. Come home now<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Anxiety pervades the plaza. So does hope. A military helicopter flew by, and a woman told her companion that maybe it dropped off a rescued captive at Ichilov Hospital a few blocks away.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cWho knows what\u2019s happening behind closed doors?\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The two were standing beside an arrangement of 7-foot-tall plastic flowers\u2014purple, red, pink, and orange\u2014springing from pads of synthetic grass. Eyal Raz created the display in tribute to the 30-plus kidnapped children, and he came on this day to check on it.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Raz, a resident of Jaffa, is a set designer. People aren\u2019t in the mood to attend plays these days, so he applied his talent to the ongoing crisis. \u201cEveryone has to make his own contribution. We\u2019re in a situation of war,\u201d Raz said, tightening a fish line holding placards of the children.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Flowers, like children, are \u201cgentle, pure, special, beautiful, magical,\u201d he said. The floral arrangement\u2019s oval shape fosters \u201can energy,\u201d he said, as visitors move to take in the faces.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Behind Raz runs perhaps the longest Shabbat table in the world, set with plates and silverware and challah and wine bottles and wine glasses\u2014a yellow ribbon tied to each\u2014and plants and even bowls of chewy candy. Every few feet, secured to folding chairs, fly yellow balloons with handwritten messages, like\u00a0<em>We\u2019re waiting for you at home<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>We miss you<\/em>. On each plate: a teeny book of psalms. On each chair: a placard of not a face, but a silhouette; not a name, but a word: HOSTAGE.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Some of the seats are highchairs.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/tablet-mag-images.b-cdn.net\/production\/057457b87620b1ece4479d4e06a534f893ed2a37-1500x2000.jpg?w=1200&amp;q=70&amp;auto=format&amp;dpr=1\" width=\"100%\" \/><em><span style=\"color: #808080;\">The Shabbat table \/ COURTESY THE AUTHOR<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Art installations, at least eight, abound in the plaza. The art is raw: a girl mannequin wearing a red jumper, her head hidden within a black hood, standing in a granny cart, rope binding her extended hands to the cart, a bullseye behind her, and, on a plinth above, a briefcase with $100 bills sticking out to represent Qatar\u2019s payments to Hamas that Israel had fostered. A uniformed female soldier cried as she looked at the exhibit, and a friend comforted her. Another installation: A rope leads into the top of a black barrel whose insides are lined with photos of captives, as the two hands of an unseen figure extend up from inches-deep sand in a bid to grasp the rope and reach safety.\u00a0<em>Time is running out. Immediate release!<\/em>\u00a0reads a printed sign at the top of the barrel. Another: a white sheet on the sidewalk, with black letters reading\u00a0<em>Awaiting you at home<\/em>, on which visitors may write messages, and behind it several hundred models of houses, all hand-painted and bearing messages:\u00a0<em>Murder<\/em>.\u00a0<em>We await you<\/em>.\u00a0<em>Mom, I\u2019m hungry<\/em>.\u00a0<em>7.10.23<\/em>.\u00a0<em>Save us, Dad!!<\/em>\u00a0<em>Now<\/em>.\u00a0<em>Nova<\/em>\u00a0[the music festival].<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The plaza\u2019s core is a cluster of tents. Some captives\u2019 families sleep in them. Other tents are symbolic and have names written at the top, or placards. Around the tents sit those most concerned with repatriating the captives. Sima S. clutched an 8\u201dx10\u201d photo of Itay Svirsky, 39, a Tel Aviv resident who on Oct. 6 returned to his childhood home on Kibbutz Be\u2019eri to celebrate its 77th anniversary that night. He stayed with his mother. The next morning, Hamas kidnapped Itay and killed his parents, Orit and Rafi. Orit had founded the kibbutz\u2019s art gallery. Her body was so badly burned that she wasn\u2019t identified for two weeks. Her 97-year-old mother survived and attended the funerals of her daughter and ex-son-in-law. Her Filipino caregiver was murdered. Itay\u2019s brother Yoni survived by hiding in a closet.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Sima remained friends with Rafi since serving together in the military more than a half-century ago. She comes to the plaza daily for a four-hour rotation. She has three goals, she said: to spread public awareness of Itay and the others, to continue equating Hamas with ISIS, and to press the International Red Cross to demand access to Hamas\u2019 captives.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cIt\u2019s important,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Sitting opposite her, Sarina Chen explained that while she\u2019s not directly connected to any victims, she feels bound to visit the plaza daily to speak with the families, to assure them they\u2019re not alone.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cOur obligation as citizens of Israel is to be with them and support them,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s the obligation of Jews throughout the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">At 3 p.m. on Nov. 9, Alexander \u201cSasha\u201d Troufanob\u2019s friends and colleagues packed an office building\u2019s patio on DaVinci Street, about midway between the families\u2019 two centers, to salute his habit every workday at that moment of taking a coffee break.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Many of them were already at the building, working at the offices of the\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/stories.bringthemhomenow.net\/\">Hostages and Missing Families Forum<\/a>, an all-volunteer initiative to press the captives\u2019 cause through diplomacy, media, social media, publicity, and lobbying. The concept for the symbolic Shabbat table came from the forum\u2019s creative team.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/tablet-mag-images.b-cdn.net\/production\/238f8c63f0aaf6b3bde68dd5a7c7d64c6dca3246-1500x2000.jpg?w=1200&amp;q=70&amp;auto=format&amp;dpr=1\" width=\"100%\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>Gal Fraktovnik, Troufanob\u2019s classmate at Ben-Gurion University \/ COURTESY THE AUTHOR<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cThe idea was to get a stronger connection between the families of those abducted and the international arena,\u201d Barukh Binah, a retired Israeli diplomat, said of the department where he and other ex-envoys volunteer. \u201cWe have knowledge and we have connections.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The diplomats\u2019 outreach to foreign governments and communities isn\u2019t coordinated with Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry, said Binah. \u201cWe just do what we think we should be doing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">People pitch in, whatever the need. Meital Tarazi volunteers several nights a week after leaving work in the marketing department of a poultry company. At 7 p.m. on this night, she was getting the kitchen ready for dinner for the staff and some of the captives\u2019 relatives.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">She volunteers out of \u201ca sense of guilt,\u201d Tarazi said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cHow can it be that I wake up in the morning in my bed, eat, drink, and go to work, while some people experienced a Shoah?\u201d she said. \u201cI wanted to feel like I\u2019m doing something. This is what I\u2019m supposed to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Down the hall, Ayelet Basel was in a storage room folding newly printed T-shirts in the movement\u2019s colors of black, red, and white.\u00a0<em>Bring them home now!\u00a0<\/em>the front of the shirts read, with the forum\u2019s name on the back.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cI\u2019m looking to do physical work. It\u2019s an outlet for my restlessness and energies,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t have to think.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/tablet-mag-images.b-cdn.net\/production\/f3a683fdbf7704f64673fd51b9d6e24d738a9651-3000x2250.jpg?w=1200&amp;q=70&amp;auto=format&amp;dpr=1\" width=\"100%\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>Placards in the storage room of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum \/ COURTESY THE AUTHOR<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"ArticleView__content-switch bradford text-article-body-md font-300 mxauto\">\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Around her, shelves hold the ubiquitous placards of most of the kidnapped, arranged alphabetically.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Fourteen names appeared on Basel\u2019s list of posters to remove. They were considered kidnapping victims until Israel determined that they\u2019d been killed.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cThe hardest thing is to remove these posters because it\u2019s counter to the hope that sustains us,\u201d Basel said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Troufanob\u2019s friends are keeping the faith.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">An engineer in the Tel Aviv office of Amazon, Troufanob would pull coworkers away from their computer screens to join him in the kitchen for some brew. He did it so likably that they happily agreed.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Their smiles are less common now. Hamas terrorists kidnapped Troufanob, his mother, Yelena, 50, his grandmother Irena Tati, 73, and his girlfriend Sapir Cohen, 29, from the family\u2019s home on Kibbutz Nir Oz. They murdered his father, Vitali.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Troufanob\u2019s brother lives in their native Russia, so the family has no relatives in Israel, which is why his circle of friends became the family\u2019s advocates. Several took leaves of absence to work for the quartet\u2019s release. They enlisted 100 technology professionals at other companies to commit to taking 3 p.m. coffee breaks in solidarity. They\u2019ve met with ambassadors and spoken on Russian TV. They arranged for the Strauss food conglomerate, a major Israeli coffee distributor, to produce glass mugs and supply beverages and snacks for the Nov. 9 event. On the mugs\u2019 packaging, Troufanob is shown grinning below the hashtag #Coffee4Sasha. A QR code connects to an\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/troufanov_family\/?igshid=MmVlMjlkMTBhMg%3D%3D\">Instagram account<\/a>: We Are All Troufanob Family.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cWe know that this energy will help him to be released,\u201d said Shiri Grosbard, an Amazon colleague.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Grosbard saw one omen a few days earlier, when Yelena appeared in a video clip Hamas released.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cWe know she\u2019s healthy, she\u2019s alive, and you can see that she\u2019s sad,\u201d Grosbard said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Said Gal Fraktovnik, Troufanob\u2019s classmate at Ben-Gurion University: \u201cWe are Sasha\u2019s family in Israel. We are doing what a family would do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Three of Troufanob\u2019s loved ones are stuck with him in Gaza, but his loved ones in Israel foresee a rousing welcome when freedom comes\u2014\u201cthe biggest party,\u201d Fraktovnik said. Nov. 11 was Troufanob\u2019s 28th birthday. His adoptive family celebrated without him in Tel Aviv.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Fraktovnik joked that Troufanob, a private person who doesn\u2019t keep social media accounts, would disapprove of the friends\u2019 mobilizing publicity on his behalf.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cWhatever we have to do for him, we\u2019ll do. Whatever can help, we won\u2019t think twice,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen he returns, we\u2019ll give him the biggest hug.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">She added: \u201cThat he should just return.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"AuthorBioBlock col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 w100 mt6 mxauto\">\n<div class=\"AuthorBioBlock__container graebenbach mt1_5 text-section-details-sm font-300 color-red\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em><strong>Hillel Kuttler<\/strong>, a writer and editor, can be reached at\u00a0<a style=\"color: #808080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tabletmag.com\/sections\/community\/articles\/hk@hillelthescribecommunications.com\">hk@HillelTheScribeCommunications.com.<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr style=\"height: 15px; background: #d0e6fa; width: 100%;\" \/>\n<div id=\"content\" class=\"content-alignment\">\n<div id=\"watch-description\" class=\"yt-uix-button-panel\">\n<div id=\"watch-description-text\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p><em>Zawarto\u015b\u0107 publikowanych artyku\u0142\u00f3w i materia\u0142\u00f3w nie reprezentuje pogl\u0105d\u00f3w ani opinii Reunion&#8217;68,<\/em><em><br \/>\nani te\u017c webmastera Blogu Reunion&#8217;68, chyba ze jest to wyra\u017anie zaznaczone.<br \/>\nTwoje uwagi, linki, w\u0142asne artyku\u0142y lub wiadomo\u015bci prze\u015blij na adres:<br \/>\n<\/em><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em><a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"mailto:webmaster@reunion68.com\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">webmaster@reunion68.com<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr style=\"width: 100%;\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Remembering the Hostages HILLEL KUTTLER In central Tel Aviv, crowds gather to lobby for the release of those kidnapped by Hamas. . Placards and banners amid the palm trees on the Kaplan Street traffic island, with the Defense Ministry building in the background COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR The faces on 12\u201dx18\u201d placards stare out from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108723"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108723"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108748,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108723\/revisions\/108748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=108723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=108723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}