An Open Letter to University Presidents
13 min read
At least 210 hostages are being held by Hamas in Gaza. Don’t forget them. Here are a few of their stories.
The families of the 210 Israeli hostages are clinging to hope while craving for the phone to ring with news about their loved ones who are missing. With each day that passes, the pain becomes more excruciating.
As Aish.com prays for their return, we are sharing a few of their stories.
Noam Alon tells Aish.com he and his girlfriend, Inbar Haiman, are students for graphic design and arts. “Inbar specializes in video art, motion design and After Effects. I knew her when I back to the academy. Because of Covid, I took a two-year break from study, and when I got back, she was in my classroom. From the first moment I met her, I knew she was special. It took some time (and lots of work!) shortly after we started dating. We have been together for 1.5 years.”
Noam and Inbar have been on vacation from their studies and travel a lot. This week they were supposed to travel to Sinai, Egypt, for a few days of fun before the beginning of the new academic year.
“Inbar is originally from Petah Tikva and I'm from Binyamina, and in the past year, we both live in Haifa, where our design academy is located. Inbar is an amazing person - she's funny, loves adventures and always takes care for everybody. She is a true artist, great designer and an amazing friend, the best I could have dreamed of.”
The weekend rave was a big event planned for months before the event, and Inbar volunteered there as a "helper," going with a few friends. Noam is not a fan of trance music so he didn't go. Around 6:30am, the alarm was heard there and the music stopped. Friends told Noam that everybody lied down and waited for a sign to get up again. Officers that were originally at the party told everybody to drive away and Inbar and her friends got inside the car. But because there was only one road and many cars, there was a big jam and it wasn't possible to move forward.
“After a few minutes, shots were heard, officers told everybody to leave the cars and run back to the party area. Inbar and a few friends ran to the main stage area and hid there for a few hours. At some point, an officer came to them and told them to run away, because the terrorists were really close. Inbar split from her friends and started to run with two boys, Rom and Priel.
The three of them ran together to the open grounds and hid inside a bush. They saw that two terrorists were heading to them, and Inbar and the boys started to run away. “A terrorist with a knife managed to take her. The boys grabbed a wood stick that was on the ground, and tried to fight the terrorist, shouting to Inbar to run away, but she was so panicked, she couldn’t move. A motorbike with two terrorists came and drove her away. The two boys were able to escape and that was the last time anyone saw her.”
Later that day, many videos were posted by Hamas and Gaza media, showing kidnapping horror scenes. In one of the videos, Inbar is shown briefly, held by four terrorists, with blood on her face. “We believe she was kidnapped to Gaza and truly hope she is being taken care of there.
“When I woke up on Saturday morning, a friend called and asked if I heard about the terror attack. I went online and saw that a big part happened at the rave. It took me a few minutes to realize that's exactly where she was. I called her many times but she didn't answer; after an hour the phone went straight to voicemail. My mother took me from my flat to my parents’ house, and that’s where I have stayed. My life has become a nightmare, I can't eat, sleep or do anything else besides think about her. I want so much for her to come back home, alive and safe. I'm so worried and miss her so much.
“I want the Israeli government to help us and pressure Hamas to give the hostages medical help, and good conditions, so that they can make a deal and bring them back quickly.”
Miriam Green was excited to see her friend Judih Weinstein at their monthly poetry group, which was supposed to meet on Oct 8th at Miriam’s house. “I have known her for many years; we were all looking forward to seeing each other again after conducting our meetings (under the auspices of VoicesIsrael.com) on Zoom,” she told Aish.com
Judih has both American and Canadian citizenship and is from Nir Oz. “She is a gentle poet who loves haiku, a wonderful English teacher who makes puppets with her classes and practices mindfulness. Our poetry group is heartbroken and praying for her safe return, along with the other hostages. Many of her poems are about the beauty of her life on kibbutz, the sun rising, the singing of birds. She really loved living there,” Green said.
Iris with her father Gad who has been kidnapped by Hamas
Judih’s daughter, Iris Haggai Liniado lives in Singapore, but her heart is very much in Israel.
“My mom wrote a haiku every morning,” she told Aish.com. “She wrote many poetry books, the last one is on her computer. I hope they didn't steal or burn it.”
Liniado’s parents take morning walks together every day. “They're very into health, both physical and mental. They eat a vegan, whole food, plant based diet and do everything they can to not be dependent on medicine or people,” Liniado said.
Saturday at 6:50am Liniado saw that there is ‘red alert’ in Kibbutz Nir Oz, which unfortunately is “not rare,” she acknowledged. “Red alert means you have to find a bomb shelter quickly because rockets are being fired to the kibbutz. I asked my parents in our family group chat if they were ok, and wanted to know what's going on there. My mom is normally very nonchalant about it because it happens all the time, but this time she said that they were laying facedown on the fields and that there are hundreds of rockets over their heads. I asked them how far they were from home, and she said, ‘Two kilometers.’ I asked them to tell me when they reach home and to keep safe.”
Meanwhile, Liniado spoke to her friends on another group chat to see if they're okay as well. “We grew up in Nir Oz, so I know everyone there. I see it's 7:20am and that my parents haven't spoken to me yet. I try to call and text, but there is no response. At 7:30am, my friend wrote in our group chat that the whole kibbutz is full of terrorists, all they can hear is Arabic and gunshots and that they're going door to door, shooting people, burning and murdering children, elderly, kidnapping, burning houses. A massacre. Slowly I'm losing contact with my friends, they no longer answer and my parents are still nowhere to be found, there was no contact.”
Seven hours later, Liniado heard that the army has finally come, putting the survivors under one roof. “I tried to find out if my parents are there, they are not. Out of 400 people on the kibbutz, only 160 survived. I know each and every person there– My teachers, caregivers, children I looked after, friends and their children, babies, friends of my parents, parents of my friends, everybody. Only 160 of them survived– our whole community erased.”
A day after, Liniado found out her mom called the kibbutz paramedic, who she has known all her life. “She said my parents were shot, my dad was severely wounded, maybe dead, and that they need medical help. The paramedic tried to send them the ambulance, but by this time, the terrorists were in the kibbutz and have shot the tires so that no one could get help. The paramedic lost contact with my mom and that's the last anyone has ever heard from them. We heard many rumors in between, but nothing factual. They were missing since then.”
Liniado said the government now considers them kidnapped as their phones were located in Gaza. “But Hamas stole everything from everyone, including phones, my friends who did survive told me they had their phones stolen and were located in Gaza, so that doesn't mean much. That's where we're at right now and all we know. I'm hoping they're together, but we don't know anything.”
Lishay Lavi, and their two daughters, Roni (2 years old) and Alma (6 months old), survived the terror attack by Hamas on their community, but her husband, Omri Miran is missing.
“We woke up early Saturday morning to the sound of the red alert siren. Unfortunately, we were accustomed to that, since we live near the border. Hamas, alongside other terrorist organizations, have regularly fired rockets at our kibbutz since 2000. Omri and I entered the safe room with our two daughters. Not too long after that, we started hearing shooting and bombing sounds getting nearer and nearer. Yells in Arabic soon followed,” Lavi said.
Omri and Lishay
The couple knew that something terrible was taking place. “We locked the door and returned to the safe space meant to protect us against missiles and mortar bombs. Sadly, we could not lock the door from the inside. The sounds that followed from the outside made it clear that Hamas terrorists were roaming the streets, searching the houses, and shooting at families in our community. Suddenly, we heard the sound of shattered glasses in our bathroom; they had entered our home. A few seconds later, voices started coming in, they began knocking on the door with their rifles, and our neighbors’ son was crying, asking us to open the door or else they would shoot him on the spot.”
They opened the door. “I knew it wasn't the smart thing to do, but we couldn't bear the thought that he would be killed. What if one of our girls was forced to do the same? Later, we learned that he and his mother were found dead in a nearby field. The terrorists killed him anyway.”
Hamas entered, pushed them “violently” to the floor. “They started tearing down their home, waking our girls with a gun pointed at their faces, threatening to do the most vile acts to them, mocking us for our helplessness. We were two parents trying to protect our two baby daughters against the face of evil. After a few hours, the terrorists forced us to stand up and moved us to a house across the street with another family whose daughter they had murdered; her body was lying in a nearby room, the blood still flowing. The sight was horrifying.”
The rest of the family members, two parents and their two remaining kids, a young boy and a young girl, had blood stains; all four were in shock. “The father’s hands were covered with blood; his eyes looked hollow. Soon after, they dragged another woman and her daughter to the house. They both were shouting, pleading for their lives, in panic. They kept saying they were American citizens, but the Hamas terrorists could not care less. It didn't help. They forced them to be quiet, threatening to kill them if they said another word. After a few more hours of ongoing horror as captives in our own kibbutz, they began taking photos and live streaming, all that they were doing to us. They shouted and announced that they were going to separate us.”
It was 1:30 PM when they took Miran, the other family's father, and the Israeli-American mother and daughter to a different location. “We didn't know why and what for. We didn't know what they planned for us or them. We have not seen any of them since. Before they left, they raised their guns and threatened us to stay where we were, or they would kill us and our loved ones. The group of terrorists separated, taking a few parked cars outside and driving away. Others stayed and continued to wreak havoc and terror in other houses.”
Paralyzed in the house, Lishay heard what was happening nearby. “We saw through the windows that other houses were set on fire. We heard horrible sounds: shots fired, screams, men, women, adults, children, and babies crying for help. We smelled the fire and the smoke that engulfed us. We were preparing for the worst. We thought they'd return or another group of Hamas would enter our house, set it on fire, and execute us all. They were shooting everywhere outside on the street, but we stayed where they told us to stay, hoping they'd forget about us. The shooting never stopped, but the sounds grew fainter.”
After a few hours, Lishay heard heavy shooting again. “We were unsure if they returned to take us or to kill us, but we soon realized that IDF soldiers arrived in the kibbutz, trying to save those who survived. We kept quiet, hoping the terrorists wouldn't try to finish us off before the IDF got to us. Eventually, as soldiers entered the house, we were relieved and understood that we would be saved - but Omri and the others were gone and were nowhere to be found.”
Lishay is bereft that many of her neighbors and friends were ruthlessly murdered. “My girls are very young but have already seen so much violence and death in their short
lives. Our eldest cries for her father and our dog, Mojo, every night, wishing them a good night. We are now surrounded with love and are grateful the rest of the family survived the horror, but we have nowhere to go back, and nobody can tell me where my Omri is. The only good news we received since last Saturday is that they found our dog. It will help the girls cope with the situation until Omri returns to us. He will, he has to. Please help us bring him back.”
Lavi’s brother is also immensely worried about Miran, who is a shiatsu therapist, and also worked as a gardener at the kibbutz.
“He is a man loved by everyone around him, calm and reassuring, soft spoken and gentle. He has been extremely involved in raising his daughters and making sure Lishay, my sister, can focus on her career development. A spiritual man who is connected to nature on the one hand and with feet on the ground on the other. His favorite author - one of mine as well - is Haruki Murakami; he had all his books in the home library. He loved basketball and we both supported the same club - Maccabi Tel Aviv.”
My prayers and thoughts are with this family!