First there were three. And now another four

When I wrote last week I was under the very-optimistic illusion that, with the ceasefire, 33 hostages would be released. The reality is that three women were released last week and four more yesterday. Which is incredible, wonderful, amazing and also such a punch in the emotional gut. The rest will be released in dribs and drabs.

Focusing on the good, here are the incredible women who, somehow, survived being held hostage for over 460 days....

Emily Damari (28), Doron Steinbrecher (31), and Romi Gonen (24)

Released yesterday were Karina Ariev (20), Daniella Gilboa (20), Naama Levy (20), and Liri Albag (19). They were all soldiers working as unarmed "lookouts" on the Gaza border (we'll leave for another time that the lookouts for months had been telling their supervisors that Hamas was clearly planning a big attack). Liri had just started her military service on October 6.... 

I want to share with you a tiny bit about one of the former hostages. British-Israeli Emily Damari lived in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. She was one of 37 of the "young people' on that Kibbutz. 11 of them were murdered on October 7 and seven were kidnapped to Gaza. Emily's dog was shot and, as she comforted Choocha as he was dying, she was shot in the leg and also the hand, losing two fingers. Emily somehow survived 471 days as a hostage. When told she was going to be released, she asked that American-Israeli Keith Siegel be released in her stead. (I'm convinced Hamas will only release the prisoners that are in good shape now; they will only let the sick/emaciated ones out in a few weeks, when the world isn't really watching any more)

Photos of Emily waving on a video call right after she was released went viral last week.

And inspired this, which was done by the father of Aner Shapira, who was Hersh Goldberg-Polin's best friend, and died defending a group of people from the Nova festival (including Hersh) who had hid in a roadside bomb shelter. Hamas terrorists tossed grenade after grenade into the shelter. Aner threw back the first seven. The eighth one exploded and killed him. 

the Priestly blessing

Knowing nothing about soccer aside from the poor reputation of most fans, I was touched to see the support that the Tottenham Hotspurs gave to Emily , including waving yellow balloons, putting yellow ribbons on the stadium and making up a special chant for Emily: "She's one of our own". 

Ceasefire

"last hurrah" by those darn Houthis

By the time this gets sent out tomorrow morning, please Gd, 33 people will be safely back in Israel.

Hopefully included in this group is Oded Lifshitz, who I have been davening for for many months.

And Omer Shem Tov. I heard his mother speak a few months back. Omer has asthma and celiac disease and is likely included in this first group (which is women, children, the elderly and those very sick) due to not receiving proper food or medication for the last 15 months....

For those of you unfamiliar with Israel's history of hostage negotiations: In 2011, Israel released over 1200 prisoners for soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held hostage in Gaza for five years. The prisoners exchanged included Yahya Sinwar, who was in prison in Israel for murder and, while there, had his life saved (SAVED) by Israel when he had brain surgery while in the prison system. Sinwar became the mastermind behind the attacks of October 7. All I can say is that sometimes it really stinks being the only democracy in the Middle East. ("fun" article: "He saved the life of Hamas’s leader. Then they murdered his nephew")

So we've danced this dance before and the outcome has been REALLY BAD. 

Even many people who support the deal have serious misgivings.  Tal Haimi was a hostage later murdered by Hamas while in captivity (his wife gave birth to their fourth child while he was held hostage.....). Tal's cousin Udi Goren, supports the agreement but had this to say:  “Do I like it? No. They’re insane jihadist murderous terrorists. Is there another way? No, there isn’t. And this is how negotiations work. You need to give something in order to get something. And because we are, at the end of the day, a Western democracy that values human lives, we will give whatever is needed in return to get our people back.”

But, of course, the more we trade unequal numbers of people (not to mention that Hamas will not actually say how many LIVE hostages they're giving back), the more incentive terrorist groups have in the future to keep kidnapping....It's a horrible loop....

Praying that every hostage returned tomorrow is alive and is able, somehow, to be able to rebuild a life that is happy and healthy in every way