Hostages’ mothers, wives and sisters honored on Int. Women’s Day
Peres Center honors women who are shaping Israel’s post-October 7 recovery: ‘We’re fighters and we’ll change the world with our acts’
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
More than two dozen women received awards Wednesday at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation as part of an International Women’s Day event, which honored the women shaping Israel’s post-October 7 recovery.
The women accepting medals of distinction included a freed hostage along with the wives, mothers and sisters of female captives, some of whom have been released while others — among them Israelis killed in captivity — are still held in Gaza.
As the women spoke, they noted the joy of greeting the freed hostages, along with the feelings of mourning for their loved ones whose bodies they hope will eventually be brought home.
“We’re partially happy,” said Osnat Sharabi, whose brothers Eli and Yossi Sharabi were kidnapped during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.
Yossi was killed in captivity and his body is still held in Gaza, Eli Sharabi was freed in the ongoing hostage release and ceasefire deal. Upon returning to Israel, Eli discovered that his wife and daughters were killed by Hamas terrorists at their Kibbutz Be’eri home on October 7.
“We need those who are no longer alive to be returned home so that we close the circle as a nation and begin to look forward, like Eli, who came back and he is facing his future,” added Osnat Sharabi.
Two mothers whose sons were killed on October 7, their remains taken hostage by Hamas to Gaza, slammed references to them as “bodies” instead of “hostages.”
“The media calls them bodies and I ask them to be our ambassadors and give honor to those hostages who don’t come home alive,” said Hagit Chen, whose son, hostage soldier Itay Chen, was killed during the October 7 Hamas onslaught.
“Tomorrow will be a very difficult day,” said Chen, referring to the scheduled return of four dead hostages on Thursday.
Israeli officials later identified the four as Shiri Bibas and her two young children Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz.
“The dead are mostly not spoken of,” said Yael Adar, whose eldest son, Tamir Adar, whose body was taken by terrorists to Gaza after he was killed defending Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. “Our children are not bodies, they were slain.”
Adar asked that people stop saying, “until the last hostage,” as doing so connotes a period without an end.
“Instead, say, ‘when the last hostage will be returned,'” she said. “When it will be the day of no more hostages and every dead hostage buried.”
The mothers of hostages Omer Shem-Tov, Eliya Cohen and Tal Shoham, who are all expected to be released on Saturday, spoke of the happiness they’re feeling and the need to temper that excitement until their sons cross over the border into Israel.
“I couldn’t have imagined how long this would take,” said Shelly Shem-Tov, who dedicated her award to the soldiers who fell in battle and were injured in the ongoing war.
Nitza Korngold said that when her son Tal returns, she will hug him tightly and then continue fighting for every hostage, “for the ones I know and the ones I don’t know as well, I give my word.” Shoham, who was taken from Kibbutz Be’eri, will return to his wife and two children, who were kidnapped with his mother-in-law and two other relatives before being freed during a truce in November 2023.
The women spoke about the simple pleasures they want to experience once their loved ones are home.
“We won’t need to go to rallies on Saturday nights and scream at the Knesset,” said Varda Ben Baruch, grandmother of US-Israeli captive Edan Alexander, a soldier taken hostage on October 7, 2023. “We can be an anonymous family once again, we can go back to Friday night dinners, to a real Bukharian family dinner at home with a full heart, and without the empty chair waiting for Edan.”
Those whose loved ones have come home cited feelings of rebirth among the returned hostages, such as Simona Steinbrecher, whose daughter Doron was freed last month.
“Doron was reborn that day, and I got to reunite with my daughter,” said Steinbrecher. “I still don’t believe that she is next to me and I can touch her and hug her after so many days when I couldn’t and she was so far from me.”
“Her strength is what makes us unique as women,” said Steinbrecher. “We’re not just mothers, sisters and daughters, we’re fighters and we’ll change the world with our acts.”
