Freed hostage Omer Wenkert urges cabinet to invite him to meeting: ‘Look at us. See the tears in our eyes’

Omer Wenkert, who was released from Hamas captivity in February as part of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, calls on the government to invite him to a cabinet meeting “and look at my testimony in the eyes.”

“In captivity, I was held in a tunnel under extreme conditions. Next to me was a pit” that served as a toilet, says Wenkert in a speech before thousands of people at the weekly rally at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square. “For 505 days, I was starved, humiliated, beaten. Out of these, I was held alone for 197 days and almost lost my mind.”

“I’m not really here. Only half of me is standing here,” continues Wenkert. “Part of us, part of all of us, is still captive in Gaza.”

“Prime Minister, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, it’s on you to get them back,” says Wenkert.

“I turn to you, leaders of the country, and reiterate: don’t look away. Look at us. See the tears in our eyes,” he adds.

He pays tribute to the soldiers who have been killed in the war; to the 28 young people, including his good friend Kim Damati, who were killed in the bomb shelter they fled to from the Reim-area Nova music festival during the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023; and to his friends Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa Dalal, who were also snatched from the rave and are still in captivity.

Speaking a week before the freedom-themed holiday of Passover, Wenkert says: “the word ‘freedom’ sounds big, sublime, but it’s simple — being with family. Waking up in the morning with a peaceful heart. Knowing you’re free to dream, hug, love, laugh, cry without fear.”