From the Liveblog of
Monday, August 11, 2025
After harrowing video, US-based family of hostage Rom Braslavski lobbying Trump to grant him US citizenship
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
When the US-based family of hostage Rom Braslavski watched the recent Palestinian Islamic Jihad video of their grandson, nephew and cousin, lying on the floor in a Gaza tunnel, saying he is suffering and “at death’s door,” this was deeply painful, says Roye Ben-Menahem, Braslavski’s first cousin.
Ben-Menahem’s mother, Anat Braslavski Ben-Menahem, is the only sibling of Braslavski’s father, Offir Braslavski. The Ben-Menahem family lives in California.
“It was difficult to watch,” says Roye Ben-Menahem in a phone interview with The Times of Israel. “Seeing his distress and seeing him crying — Rom doesn’t do that. He’s very rowdy and in your face; seeing him reduced to this is so soul-crushing.”
The family has turned their distress into their strength, says Ben-Menahem, describing their ongoing push to grant Rom Braslavski American citizenship.
“We are hoping for that Trump card, for the American citizenship route,” he says. “To see that bear fruit could be the greatest gift so that Rom could get the same treatment as Edan Alexander” — a reference to an American-Israeli hostage who was released in May as a gesture to the United States.
Ben-Menahem and his mother are sending letters to various officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, requesting that Braslavski be granted US citizenship based on the American status of his grandmother, aunt and cousin.
Ben-Menahem says he is now seeing headlines that Trump is considering granting US citizenship to all remaining living 20 hostages.
“We’re worried about Rom surviving,” says Ben-Menahem.
The Times of Israel Community.