‘She’s one of our own’: Spurs supporters sing for fellow fan Emily Damari
The 28-year-old hostage has been held captive in Gaza for more than a year
Stop The Hate UK called for the release of British hostage Emily Damari outside Tottenham football stadium today.
Supporters of the 28-year old also counter-protested the anti-Israel demonstration organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign in central London yesterday.
They held a vigil outside the Spurs shop for three hours before kick off to raise awareness among Spurs fans and call for Emily’s release.
Emily Damari was shot and forcibly taken from her home in Kfar Aza during the 7 October terror atrocities. Freed hostages have spoken of the severe sexual abuse endured by female captives.
Mandy Damari, Emily’s mother, has voiced the anguish of not knowing what her daughter faces: “Every day is living hell not knowing what Emily is going through. I do know from the hostages that returned that they were starved, sexually abused, and tortured. Every moment lost is another moment of unimaginable suffering or even death.”
She added: “How is it she is still imprisoned there after one year? Why isn’t the whole world, especially Britain, fighting every moment to secure her release She’s one of their own.”
Stop the Hate UK organiser Itai Galmundy told Jewish News: “The whole point of us coming here today as British football fans is to raise awareness with British people about the plight of a British young lady who has been held for over a year in the dungeons of Hamas. That’s why we are coming to talk to them.”
He added: “Like any other British person, she likes to go to the pub, to have a pint, she likes to have a cup of tea, she likes dry humour and she loves Spurs. We believe the British public are just not aware of this problem and we regard it as a British problem. It’s got nothing to do with Israel. It’s got nothing to do with the fact that she’s a Jew. It only has to do with the fact that she’s a fellow Brit. And they need to know that we have to bring her home. That’s why we are going to Tottenham today.”
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