From the Liveblog of
Friday, May 16, 2025
Former hostages Aviva and Keith Siegel host pancake popup at Israeli-owned NYC restaurant
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
Freed hostage Keith Siegel and his wife, former captive Aviva Siegel, host a pancake popup at 12 Chairs, an Israeli-owned restaurant in New York’s SoHo neighborhood.
Half of the proceeds will go to 12 Chairs and the other half will go to the Hostage Families Forum.
Siegel, who hosted a similar event recently in Tel Aviv in order to bring attention to the hostages and harkening to his own love of pancakes, walks up and down the block, speaking to the long line of supporters who began lining up at 9 a.m.
Siegel says that when he met US President Donald Trump recently in Washington, DC, he had a sense that the issue of the hostages is very important to the president.
“No one deserves to suffer,” says Siegel. “We need to bring an end to the suffering on both sides.”
Siegel, who says that he still believes in a lasting peace, adds that he doesn’t know how to bring the current situation to a close, but “we seem to have the opportunity now,” referring to Trump’s recent trip to Qatar.
Siegel and his wife, Aviva, who was helping make the pancakes in the restaurant kitchen, are in New York for the Israel Day Parade on Sunday, along with other released hostages and hostage families.
Kate Amrani, an Israeli currently living in New York who works for the restaurant that serves popular Israeli foods in its two locations, says the restaurant has been hosting pop-ups since October 7.
“This is a really emotional morning,” she says. “We’re building a community, not just a restaurant. Everyone can feel at home here.”
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