13 Voices Speak Out on Oct. 7 Anniversary for 13 Women Still Held Hostage by Hamas
Thirteen influential voices are speaking out in a tribute to the 13 women who have been held in captivity by Hamas for 365 days.
Timed to the one-year anniversary of Israel‘s deadliest day since the Holocaust, Oct. 7, when about 1,200 people were killed and around another 250 were taken hostage by the terror group, The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has gathered 13 recognizable activists to speak out on the women who remain hostages amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza War.
Posted to its social channels with their #BringThemHomeNow movement, the coalition that formed after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack shared the video and tagged each participant. (The Hollywood Reporter has also reached out to the forum. Watch the video here.)
“13 women have been held in captivity for 365 days. 13 powerful voices have joined us in speaking out on each of the women being held hostage,” read the post, as the participants read their names and shared their stories.
The activists in the video are Bravo producer/host Andy Cohen; actresses Ginnifer Goodwin, Mayim Bialik, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Patricia Heaton and Debra Messing; Saturday Night Live comedian Chloe Fineman; artist Zoe Buckman; fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff; Iranian Princess Noor Pahlavi; and influencers Emily Austin, Adela Cojab Moadeb and Baby Ariel.
The 13 women who remain hostages are Romi Gonen, 24; Naama Levy, 20; Liri Albag, 19; Ofra Keider, 70; Shiri Bibas, 33; Inbar Hayman, 27; Emily Damari, 27; Karina Ariev, 20; Agam Berger, 20; Doron Steinbrecher, 31; Arbel Yehoud, 29; Daniella Gilboa, 20; and Judy Weinstein Haggai, 70.
The video follows several organized movements from voices in Hollywood urging the return of the 101 Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas, as well as the release of We Will Dance Again, Paramount+’s harrowing Nova festival massacre documentary that recently united several families of the hostages at its premiere. Most recently, 62 performers and artists — from across television, film, fashion, reality TV and social media — signed their names in a letter directed to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris asking for “sustainable peace in the Middle East and recogniz[ing] that the first essential step towards that peace is Hamas returning the 101 remaining hostages.”
Among the hostages are seven Americans; four of those hostages are presumed to be alive and three are believed to have been murdered, according to the American Jewish Committee. Six Israeli hostages, including Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, were recently killed by Hamas shortly before Israel Defense Forces (IDF) recovered their bodies in a Hamas-run tunnel under the city of Rafah.
Both Biden and Harris released statements on Monday’s anniversary. “I will never forget the horror of October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists brutally attacked Israel,” wrote Harris. In her full statement, posted to social media, she named American hostages Omer Neutra, 22; Edan Alexander, 20; Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36; Keith Siegel, 65, Gadi Haggai, 73; Itay Chen, 19; and Weinstein Haggai, 70, (mentioned above), saying, “I will never stop fighting for the release of all the hostages, including the seven American citizens, living and deceased, still held.” Adding, “My commitment to Israel is unwavering.”
In his full statement, Biden said, “We will never give up until we bring all the remaining hostages home safely.” He also “strongly condemned the vicious surge in antisemitism in America and around the world” as he remembered the “unspeakable brutality” of the Oct. 7 attack. “We will not stop working to achieve a ceasefire deal in Gaza that brings the hostages home, allows for a surge in humanitarian aid to ease the suffering on the ground, assures Israel’s security and ends this war,” he wrote.
Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza has left a death toll of more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Source: Hollywoodreporter