Hostages’ Return Must be More than Slogan
Of nearly 100 comments on a NextDoor thread about the clash between police and pro-Palestine protestors on the Emory University campus, only one referenced Oct. 7.
Whatever your opinion of the status quo beforehand, the current war was sparked that day, when Hamas-led terrorists slaughtered 1,200 people and kidnapped 240 in an area of southern Israel known as the “Gaza envelope.”
Of the 133 hostages remaining in Gaza, Israel’s government believes that 30 or more already may be dead.
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Return of the hostages — all of the hostages, the living and the dead — would be a productive step toward a ceasefire. But Hamas — which rules Gaza and engineered the Oct. 7 attacks — reportedly cannot account for the whereabouts of all of the hostages.
What also worries their families — who, at this writing have endured 207 days of agony — is that return of the hostages seems to have become as much a slogan as a priority in some quarters of the Israeli government.
Tal Shoham’s smile graced our Seder table, but his chair was empty. Shoham’s family in Israel observed Passover without him.
Three members of his family — each a leaf on a different branch of my family tree — were murdered Oct. 7 when terrorists attacked Kibbutz Be’eri. Seven others were kidnapped. Six -including Shoham’s wife, son, and daughter — were freed Nov. 25 in an exchange of Israeli hostages for a larger number of Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Tal remains a hostage.
This column is how I keep the hostages in the public eye. There are other ways.
Dog tags that read “Our hearts are held hostage in Gaza” and “Bring them home now” have become fashion statements with a message. Many were on display at a recent rally in Sandy Springs in support of the hostages.
Danielle Kapp Cohen, a freelance writer and editor who lives in East Cobb, has made it her mission to support one Israeli family that remains trapped in the nightmare of Oct. 7.
Through her mother’s sister, who made Aliyah 60 years ago, Cohen has three first cousins in Israel. One of the cousins, BatChen Grinberg, lives at Kibbuz HaOgen, northeast of Netanya. She told Cohen how her 12-year-old son, Adi, had befriended Eitan Yahalomi, a 13-year-old boy who was kidnapped on Oct. 7 and suffered physical and psychological abuse until he was freed.
When terrorists invaded Kibbutz Nir Oz, the handle on the safe room door at the Yahalomi home was broken, so Ohad Yahalomi sat in front of that door, protecting his wife and three children. He exchanged gunfire with the terrorists, until he was shot in a leg and an arm.
Terrorists grabbed his wife, BatSheva, and their children, putting them onto two motorcycles bound for Gaza. As Israeli tanks approached, the motorcycles veered. When one of the motorcycles toppled, Batsheva and her two daughters, a 10-year-old, and a 20-month-old, escaped.
They lost sight of Eitan.
When BatSheva and the girls returned to Nir Oz, their home was uninhabitable and Ohad was missing. He was last seen in a terrorist video released in January.
Eitan, meanwhile, suffered 52 days of hell. The boy was beaten by Palestinian civilians, forced to watch Hamas videos from Oct. 7, threatened at gunpoint if he made a sound. He was told that Israel had been destroyed, and that no one was coming for him.
Eitan was reunited with his mother and sisters in a Nov. 27 hostages-for-prisoners exchange.
BatSheva and the children have relocated to Kibbutz HaOgen. She told Cohen’s cousin that the traumatized children sleep with her and insist that not only the door to the house, but also the bedroom door be locked.
Cohen was moved by the friendship of Adi and Eitan. “I go big or I go home,” said Cohen. “I just don’t know how to stand idly by.”
She set out to raise $1,800–100 times “Chai” — to support the Yahalomi family. Through friends and family that was achieved in 48 hours.
As word of Cohen’s effort spread, “Complete strangers were donating and donating generously. It was just mind boggling to me.”
To date, Cohen has raised more than $23,780, which she routes to the Yahalomi family through her cousin. Donations have come from 473 individuals in five countries on four continents, including 22 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
“I didn’t think long term. I just started and it snowballed,” said Cohen. “I am happy to continue to persist with this for as long as people are willing to give.”
Cohen’s cousin has relayed BatSheva’s appreciation for the help provided by so many people she does not know.
Ohad Yahalomi turned 50 years old in April as a hostage, just as Tal Shoham turned 39 in January.
Ending the war must begin with return of the hostages to the families.
Note: Donations to the Yahalomi family can be made through https://venmo.com/u/DanielleCohen-Writer. Cohen can be contacted via https://www.facebook.com/danielle.k.cohen/
Originally published at https://www.atlantajewishtimes.com on April 30, 2024.
