Hostage families describe Israel as ‘a nation in shock’ to a London Jewish audience

A renewed pledge for British Jews to continue highlighting the hostage issue was made at a meeting held at JW3 this week, with family members of those murdered or kidnapped by Hamas.

A three-person delegation of Israeli family members was brought to the UK by the Gesher organisation, which works to improve relations between different Jewish communities in Israel and the diaspora.

The three – Limor Sella-Broyde, Shachar Mor and David Barr – shared their individual stories but said that even though hostage releases were taking place, they still felt overwhelming grief.

The feeling, said Shachar, was that Israel as a nation “was in shock” and that it would take a long time to process what had happened to their families and friends on 7 October.

Limor, who spoke in the UK last month, said she had had 12 family members hurt. “Three were murdered, nine were taken captive. Eight have been returned, one still remains in Gaza. It’s a miracle, but it’s an intervention-induced miracle.”

She described a nightmare scenario in which funerals and shivahs were overlapping each other. as bodies were slowly identified. “The return, as well as bringing relief, brings with it a lot of uncertainty, sadness, and heartache”.

Those who had returned were coming back to the news of their relatives’ deaths, together with the fact that they had no homes to go.

“We are here, among other things, to advocate for the release of every last one of the hostages,” she said. “Part of the reason that we are here today is that we see how important it is for us to stay strong and stay together”.

She said support could take many forms, from speaking out on social media to much-needed financial aid, in helping not just returned hostages, but also the hundreds of displaced families in both north and south of Israel.

Shachar Mor, who described himself to Jewish News as a “left-wing activist for peace”, had four family members kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the hardest hit of the southern kibbutzim.

Towards the end of last week his aunt, cousin and their nine-year-old son were released; but Shachar’s cousin Ro’ee was murdered, while his 78-year-old uncle Avraham remains a captive of Hamas.

Before 7 October, Nir Oz, said Shachar, had been been “as close to heaven as you can get, just a 30-40 minute drive from Tel Aviv. It was green, it was lush, it was beautiful. The places had their own energy, and it was a peace energy.

“My uncle used to drive sick cancer patients from Gaza to Soroka hospital in Beersheva. My grandmother was from the generation that were pioneers, and she raised her kids the same way.”

Describing some of the newly-related experiences of the released hostages, Shachar was adamant. “I don’t care about Hamas. I just want my uncle back.”

British-born David Barr is an educator from Kibbutz Alumim, whose sister-in-law, Naomi, was murdered as she went for her regular early morning run in Sderot.

He spoke of the psychological problems engulfing Israelis, particularly those who, like him and his family, have been evacuated to different places around the country.

“The school where I work is spread out all over the country. We tried having lessons by Zoom but it’s a waste of time, the kids have no interest in studying: they’re not in the world. The headline that I saw is that psychologists have no way of dealing with the situation that we find ourselves in.”

Drily, he said that social media should really be called “the anti-social media… you get thrown back in your face what you want to hear, then we become little robots.

“A war against trying to persuade the other side is a lost war. And, by the way, even if we say we’re going to win this war, we can’t – we lost it on the first day. We can only defeat the enemy but we’re not going to win any wars”.

Ilan Geal-Dor, the chief executive of Gesher, said that the war and the hostage issue “was no longer an Israeli issue… It’s an issue of the Jewish world, a mutual challenge of the Jewish people. This new reality brings us together.”

The war was described both as “a war between good and bad” and “a proxy war between human rights believers, and those who do not believe in human rights”.

The Israeli delegation asked British Jews to “keep the tension up” – including asking the UK government why it continued to send money into Gaza.

For their part, the British Jews asked what more they could do to help. “Every little thing counts in terms of support”, Limor said.

Raymond Simonson, JW3 chief executive, said one of the most effective campaigns had been JW3’s Shabbat candles package, each of which spotlighted one of the hostages.

“Big numbers are hard to process. but giving the names of hostages personalise the situation,” he said.

Board of Deputies’ chief executive Michael Wegier chaired the meeting.