Earlier this month, I was invited by ISRAEL21c to tour the offices of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum and Hostages and Missing Square. It was an experience that was at once humbling and sad, and yet not entirely depressing, as it did fill me with a sense of appreciation for the unstoppable Israeli spirit.
This vital organization, which is not supported by the government, and is an independent nonprofit, has been the leading organization in helping raise awareness regarding the hostages’ plight, and has served as a place where the families of the hostages can take solace.
The forum offers a physical location, a sense of community and belonging, and a “global platform” in order to continue to fight for the release of the hostages (and the bodies of those who have been declared deceased).
Earlier this summer I visited the site of the Nova Festival Massacre, and drove around the army bases and yishuvim which enveloped Gaza with my former commander in the IDF, but this experience was very different.
In touring the forum’s offices, I encountered a dedicated staff, and a sense of agency. There are so many things out of our control, but the staff and the families of the hostages are taking action to do what they can to bring them back home.
If what I saw in the south was a memorial to those who were kidnapped and had been murdered, what I encountered in the center of Tel Aviv was the Israeli spirit of resilience and an orientation towards taking massive action.
It is important to repeat the above point. While the general mood in the country is gloomy, change happens when people do not give up, and continue to push forward. This organization and the families are not giving up.
The Hostages Forum offices
The Hostages Forum offices are housed in the center of the Startup Nation, and were donated by Israeli cybersecurity company Check Point.
What began as hostage families pitching a tent outside military headquarters in Tel Aviv has become a multi-floor major operation.
The forum has various divisions, such as media, policy, and the operations of continuing to raise awareness. The building also houses a food court and mental health services for the families.
Some of the people we met included our knowledgeable guide Rebecca, as well as many volunteers helping with a wide range of tasks, and professionals focused on areas such as media relations, political advocacy, governmental relations, and even art, documenting different experiences related to the hostages.
The art installations at Hostages Square and Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square have attracted global attention. However, there are other expressions of art such as Israeli artist Sharon Derhy’s prints in which she created images of hostages reunited with their families.
It was difficult to look at these images, and know they are not home yet.
The work of the organization
The forum has become the most high-profile nonprofit for the hostages’ release since the onset of the war, both here in Israel and globally. Its overriding mission to return the hostages can be divided into three main goals.
The first goal is bringing all the hostages home by all available channels. The second is providing medical, emotional and psychological support for the families of the hostages. The third goal, a longer term one, is defining Hamas’s actions as war crimes and crimes against humanity. This will have both political and legal consequences.
The most visible symbols of the forum’s work globally are the items sold to raise funds (pins, dog tags, t-shirts, hats, etc.), as well as rallies held regularly at Hostage Square. Two iconic items we will surely remember as emblems of this difficult period – and perhaps more broadly as modern forms of Judaica — are the silver dog tags and the yellow pins.
The forum also hosts press conferences to continue to keep the hostages in the media spotlight domestically and internationally. One of the biggest dangers for the hostages is that their plight could be forgotten.
This is a real threat as every day the news bombards us about how the region is on the brink of a larger conflict. Attention is truly the currency the forum and the families of the hostages are dealing with.
Hostages and Missing Square
Hostages Square, in front of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, has become the public face of the movement. In this square, visitors can experience art that expresses the plight of the hostages.
While art can be therapeutic in dealing with the trauma the country is currently going through, it also helps the world understand what transpired here on October 7. For me, the most notable art installation was about the unspeakable atrocities that took place at the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im. I recall feeling this overwhelming dread when I visited the massacre site itself.
Our minds and hearts can only understand and process so much.
The most effective art installation is participatory: a long tunnel like those under Gaza, where a participant walks through, hears noise akin to what it would be like to be underground, and feels the claustrophobia of the experience. This is what the hostages are suffering through… but unimaginably worse.
When I asked a friend who was working with the government how to get in touch with the families of the hostages, he suggested that I just go down to Hostages Square. He was right.
As we walked around the square, we met Yuval Bar On, who is engaged to Shir, the daughter of Keith and Aviva Siegel who were kidnapped from Kfar Aza. Aviva was released after 51 days, and Keith remains in captivity. For Yuval, securing Keith’s release has become his life’s mission.
Soldiers weep in the wreckage of a home at Kibbutz Kfar Aza on the Gaza border, where leftover wine and challah from a holiday meal are still on the table, four days after the October 7 massacre.
A mother lies on the sidewalk shielding her young children with her body as Hamas fires rockets over Ness Ziona in central Israel.
Reflection
In reflecting on my own emotions during the visit, the one thing I continue to think about is:
Where do these families get the strength to continue on, and do what they do?
They are going through so much, and it seems at times at the whim of political currents. While these families have a strong support network around them, nobody else can truly understand the depth of their pain and suffering.
Yet somehow they keep on making sure that everyone who can, will listen to their stories. That means getting to the highest echelons of power globally.
The families whose loved ones are still in captivity are willing to go to the ends of the earth to do what they can to free the hostages. They display extreme persistence in the face of apathy, roadblocks and even events working against them.
There is something very Israeli in their intensity, in just not giving up until the mission is accomplished… even when there is so much out of their control.
My main takeaway from my visit was that this community will continue taking action to accomplish its singular task, no matter what.
For more information, click here.
More on Life
Fighting for Israel's truth
We cover what makes life in Israel so special — it's people. A non-profit organization, ISRAEL21c's team of journalists are committed to telling stories that humanize Israelis and show their positive impact on our world. You can bring these stories to life by making a donation of $6/month.
