Hostage families read prayer for PM to ‘accept responsible’ proposals in meeting with Biden, Netanyahu
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
The families of the American hostages read aloud a prayer urging Israeli leaders to “accept responsible proposals” for a ceasefire at the end of their meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday, participants tell The Times of Israel.
Earlier in the meeting, hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin‘s parents Jon and Rachel gave Netanyahu a photo that showed their son together with childhood friends Aner Shapira and Ben Zussman.
Shapira saved the lives of ten partygoers at the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im on October 7, by tossing back seven grenades that Hamas terrorists hurled into a roadside shelter packed with people, including Hersh.
The eighth grenade thrown into the shelter killed Shapira, whose great-grandfather Haim Moshe Shapiro signed Israel’s Declaration of Independence.
Zussman, 22, was killed fighting in Gaza in December.
These 3 boys grew up together and now their fate is tied together by October 7
Left: Aner Shapira. Unarmed, he fended off 7 grenades thrown by Hamas. The next one they threw killed him.
Middle: Ben Zussman. Ben was a soldier in the Combat Engineers. He died fighting Hamas in… pic.twitter.com/qe0JjaXvNV
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) December 5, 2023
Hersh’s parents told Netanyahu that Zussman and Shapira’s parents have been unable to move forward since their sons’ deaths knowing that 115 hostages are still being held in Gaza.
The prayer that the hostage families read aloud in front of Netanyahu and Biden was written by Zussman’s father Tzvi.
“May it be Your will, Lord our G-d and G-d of our forefathers, that You send Your light and truth to the prime minister, ministers, and advisors of the government of the State of Israel, and guide them with good counsel.
Enlighten their eyes to accept responsible proposals placed before them in order to bring about the release of our loved ones that are hostages. Father, our King, help us to bring our captives from darkness to light, so that we all may be crowned with the crown of victory and life, and let us say: Amen.”
