Hamas hostages: the fight against oblivion

A solid yellow line runs along both sides of the 66-kilometer stretch connecting Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It recalls the gold ribbons hanging on the wrists of thousands of Israelis who have walked along this highway since Tuesday, shouting for the urgent release of some 240 loved ones, friends, parents, and babies kidnapped by Hamas.

This Saturday, November 18, their determination was heard even under the windows of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the holy city: “Bring them home now!” (Take them home immediately!)” their rallying cry after the deadly attack on October 7.

On Sunday, they will return with sad eyes to their posts as observers in the Tel Aviv Museum Square and at the “Forum of Families of Hostages and Missing Persons,” where dozens of volunteers, former diplomats, experts, psychologists, artists and Data Analysts are doing their best. to get out of the black hole of anxiety into which terrorists drove the country six weeks ago.

Relatives of the abducted are fighting against time and oblivion, their only weapon being the posters that accompany passers-by everywhere in Tel Aviv, from the airport to schools and on bridge supports.

“We have a moral obligation to believe they are alive.”

Their mobilization also aims to spread abroad to mobilize public opinion, especially in France, where eight of the missing are nationals. Erez, Elia, Mia… Eight faces that Le Parisien decided to put on the front page to make their story better known. “We don’t know for sure what happened to them, but we have a moral obligation to believe they are alive. The only thing we can do is to mobilize public opinion,” insists Anne-Sophie Sebban-Bécache, French directorAmerican Jewish Committeewhich is activated “so that we don’t forget them.”

This Monday, the Jewish organization will receive two hostage families, accompanied by Emily Moatti, a former Labor Party member of the Knesset, and Daniel Shek, a former Israeli ambassador to France. According to our information, they will see, in particular, three former prime ministers Bernard Cazeneuve, Manuel Valls and, on Wednesday, Edouard Philippe.

“We are French citizens and our families are in the hands of Hamas. Don `t forget about Us ! pleads Hadas, whose ex-husband Ofer Calderon, a 53-year-old French-Israeli, and two children, Erez and Sahar, 12 and 16, were abducted from the martyred kibbutz Nir Oz. According to the Israeli press, almost a third of the hostages were kidnapped in this village, located a stone’s throw from the Gaza Strip.

“Most of them were peace activists, we are still pacifists, we ask for nothing more than to find our loved ones,” admits Roy Zichri, whose 9-year-old younger brother Ohan was kidnapped in the same place along with his mother and grandmother and grandfather. This head of a guitar string factory no longer knows how to convince the world of the “human” need for support. He knows it: Abroad, images of Gaza under bombs have stole the show.

Behind the scenes, talks coordinated by Qatar, which has the most direct contact with Hamas, are showing signs of “hope,” Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu suggested Friday during a lightning visit to Israel, where he met the families of eight “disappeared” people. (he uses this term due to the uncertainty about their fate), very dignified and courageous, and to Doha, where he returned this Saturday for the second time in three days. Before visiting Cairo (Egypt) another country involved in this case.

The hostages are at the top of the stack in the Elysee Palace.

The goal, by appointing a minister close to the head of state, is to put pressure on the negotiating partners and raise the tone with the need to take into account the presence of French citizens among the hostages. During the tour, Macron and Lecornu called each other frequently; the hostage case is at the top of the pile at the Elysee Palace.

“Only with hindsight will we know what was decisive and what was not, at the moment we are in the dark,” says Daniel Scheck, who heads the diplomatic division of the Forum of Families. Not a day goes by without rumors about the possible release of this or that person. Unfortunately, only five releases have been made so far. »

On Friday, families buried Noah Marciano, a 19-year-old soldier whose body was found in the nearby Al-Shifa Hospital building and brought back by the Israeli army. “Noah’s family came to the forum every day, her mother was very optimistic and was a real support for our group,” says Emily Moatti. The news of his daughter’s death broke our hearts. » The death of another captive, Yehudit Weiss, a mother of five who was battling breast cancer, was also confirmed Friday by the Israeli army.

In Tel Aviv Museum Square, where a huge table awaits 240 guests for a long-awaited banquet, an hourglass ticks away the endless wait. The sand forms a heap and overflows. Families again released hundreds of pink balloons into the Tel Aviv sky on Saturday to celebrate the birthdays of two missing people. Laz was 57 years old. Emily, a little girl, was supposed to celebrate her ninth birthday with her family this weekend.