Aviv Geffen performs duet with released hostage Mia Leimberg

Freed 17-year-old Israeli hostage Mia Leimberg became famous for having her Shih Tzu dog, Bella, with her in Gazan captivity for nearly two months.

Now the Jerusalem arts high school student is singing with renowned Israeli rocker Aviv Geffen in a new song he wrote and composed, “Black Sunrise.”

The song is about the horrific events of October 7, as Hamas terrorists launched a multi-pronged attack on the Gaza border communities and Supernova music festival, killing some 1,200 people and abducting about 240.

“We weren’t ready,” sing Geffen and Leimberg, describing the smoke rising over the kibbutz homes, telling of the young men and women who ran from the desert rave, about children who woke up in their beds one morning and will never play in their backyards again.

It’s a song about the state of Israeli life right now, with worry about soldiers in the south and north, fear for the 128 remaining hostages held in Gaza and a national impatience with comments from elected officials meant to placate citizens.

“I’m just waiting for another hostage return and nothing is changing,” sing the two. “And since then we’re counting the days, we won’t return to be the same people”

In the accompanying video, Geffen and Leimberg sing together in his studio, with Leimberg, a voice student at Jerusalem High School for the Arts, harmonizing gently.

It’s a situation that she probably never imagined for herself, certainly not at this point in time.

Leimberg, a 12th grader, and her mother, Gabriela Leimberg, on the weekend of October 7 were visiting Gabriela’s sister, Clara Marman, their brother, Fernando Marman, and Clara’s partner, Louis Har, in Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak near Gaza.

The five family members tried to jam the safe room door closed with a chair but Hamas terrorists burst in, taking them all hostage to Gaza.

They were all held hostage together until November 28, when Clara, Gabriela and Mia were all released as part of a temporary ceasefire deal brokered by Qatar and the United States between Hamas and Israel.

Mia Leimberg and her beloved Shia Tzu dog, in the video for Aviv Geffen song ‘Black Sunrise’ — released December 20, 2023 (Courtesy screenshot)

At the end of the video, Leimberg and Geffen hug and then Leimberg is pictured with her beloved Bella, the dog that she has said provided moral support for her throughout the endless days of captivity.

Leimberg was welcomed home with great joy by her father, Moshe Leimberg, and by her school, the Jerusalem High School for the Arts, who greeted her with song on the day that Mia returned to school.