We Can’t Forget the Remaining Hostages

Some 5,675 miles away from home, Moshe Lavi is trying to hold things together in the heart of Hell’s Kitchen, the New York City neighborhood where he lives. The name couldn’t be more fitting. Every day Lavi is whipping up interviews and publicity for every media outlet you can imagine. It’s all in an effort to get his brother-in-law Omri Miran out of Hamas captivity.

Moshe Lavi

Originally from the southern border city of Sderot, Israel, Lavi was texting with his family in Nahal Oz on October 7th as they were attacked by terrorists. He learned of his sister’s home invasion in real time via WhatsApp message. As their cell-phone battery was extinguishing, Lavi received a final photo of his young nieces with their dog. Then it was eight hours of silence before he received more word from his sister. She reported that her husband had been taken hostage after some agonizing hours in which the family saw and heard things that will likely haunt them forever.

Omri and his wife Lishay

The family hid in their home’s safe room for hours when a knock came to the door that they felt they couldn’t ignore. Next was the sound of their young neighbor’s voice. He told the family that if they did not open up, he would be killed by terrorists who were standing by. Despite knowing it would lead to trouble, the Miran-Lavi family feared the young man would be killed if they did not comply.

When they opened the door, they were pushed violently to the floor. Terrorists started tearing down their home, waking up the little girls with guns pointed at their faces, and threatening to do vile acts to the family while also mocking their helplessness.

After a few hours, the terrorists forcibly moved the family to a house across the street with another family whose daughter had been murdered. Her bloody body was lying in a nearby room. During this time, the terrorists began taking photos and live streaming their treatment of the abductees in the house.

In the house, multiple family units waited for the next part of the horror. Eventually the Hamas terrorists removed the patriarchs of the families and another two women out of the house. Terrorists took parked cars and drove away.

Hamas has released some 100 hostages during a major international deal, and 135 hostages remain in Gaza, including Omri, a father of two. The November deal focused on retrieving women and children, leaving men to remain in the tunnels of Hamas captivity.

"The next battle is to advocate for the many men left in Gaza. Those men are not defined just by their gender, but also by being meaningful fathers, grandfathers, and sons," Lavi said.

Lavi has been working on framing the plight of the hostages in the most compelling and sympathetic manner during his enumerable interviews, writings and public appearances. The 35-year-old Wharton graduate has published an op-ed in the New York Times, taken interviews and follow-ups with some 20 news outlets including CNN, Fox, NPR, the BBC, a Swedish radio station and has also found the strength to stand before crowds for Jewish organizations throughout New York and New Jersey, at the UN, the Red Cross, and has appealed to U.S. Congress in Washington D.C. This is all outside of his day job.

Lavi works for Kearney, a managing consulting firm of 5,000 employees. While his company is working to maintain a neutral stance and has not made any kind of public statement about Israel, he feels supported at the office. He reports his colleagues are checking to make sure he is taking care of himself and are also reminding him to utilize workplace resources and benefits that are available for employees through the company.

“It might not seem noble that I keep working, but it’s important for us,” Lavi explained. “All my family members are displaced and not working. I am the only provider of the family at the moment.”

Lavi, born and raised in Israel, served in the IDF as a humanitarian officer to Gaza. He moved to the US a couple of years ago to attend the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school in Philadelphia. After graduation, he moved to New York where he now lives and works. He last visited home one month before the attack.

“Being here in New York has been very difficult. I was supposed to fly back home in the first week. I am a captain in the reserves ... but my family asked me to stay here and do what I can to advocate for Omri,” Lavi shared.

Despite being emotionally disturbed over realizing his home, neighborhood and the entire region where he grew up in Israel has been destroyed, Lavi doubled down on maximizing his post in the U.S. He is expected to be reunited with his sister and her children in December when he will finally take leave from New York to enter war-torn Israel and give his sister and nieces their first in-person hug since war broke out.

“Living with this tragedy overpowers your entire day and your entire thoughts. It’s hard to sleep and function, especially in comparison to how I functioned before,” Lavi said.

Lavi says his routine was non-existent during the first two weeks of war but that he has now found a way to stay healthy, even with his impossible schedule. “I speak with everyone back home, friends... family. We haven’t processed it yet because Omri is not back,” Lavi said.

For Lavi, it’s imperative to get the women, children and elderly out of Gaza, and he is dedicated to continue advocating for the men.

“What’s important is that we keep making sure every other day Omri has a voice one way or another,” Lavi said. “The issue of the hostages receiving attention is really important because otherwise this issue will be sidelined and war will be highlighted. Without talking about the hostages, I don’t think the wider public will understand how important it is to bring them home.”

Moshe on ABC News

While Lavi acknowledged that the issue of hostages does receive sympathy, especially in the U.S., Germany, the UK, and France, it is still important to share the issues with government legislators who don’t necessarily stand with Israel. Following his interview with Aish, Lavi joined a delegation with the Forum of Families of Hostages for a trip to Washington D.C. He says the organization coined the slogan “Bring them Home” and that it’s been instrumental in getting hostages released.

"Taking hostages is an unjust move by Hamas, a deliberate psychological warfare tactic, separating families and keeping one in captivity," he lamented. “The hostages who return have to be very mindful of the media. I wish this was more highlighted by news outlets.”

An alumni of the contentious Ivy League, Lavi spoke to the voracious antisemitism at UPenn. He says he’s personally disappointed with the lack of outreach from his former instructors who overwhelmingly did not send any acknowledgment or support. He noted there’s a large ongoing effort by the school’s alumni to counter a growing problem of antisemitism and said he’s been invited to join brainstorming sessions on Zoom.

“People are working to find ways to improve the situation for students on campus... but I am not actively involved in that. I don’t really have the capacity,” Lavi said.

And while many Jews have been criticizing Israel in the media, Lavi focuses on the oneness he says he sees on a daily basis. “A glimmer of hope, no matter how small, helps us continue living. Despite our disagreements, we, the Jewish people, view ourselves as one unit, a true people supporting one another," he concluded. “In the fringe of the Jewish community there are people who don’t share that with us, but I do believe it is fringe and that it does not represent the majority of people in the U.S.”

More than any other message, Lavi asks everyone to keep up a deep-seated hope that all the hostages will return.

“What we think at night when we are under the blanket may not be as hopeful as what we think during the day. But we get up and do our duty as a family and as members of a community. If we don’t have hope, we won’t have anyone showing up for us.”