From the Liveblog of
Monday, May 13, 2024
‘Our hope is not yet lost’: 100,000 gather in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square to mark Independence Day
An estimated 100,000 people are gathered in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square to mark Israel’s 76th Independence Day, with family members of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7.
The rally opens with a speech from former politician Haim Jelin, who leads the crowd in a Yizkor memorial prayer adapted to address Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which devastated southern communities, including Kibbutz Be’eri, where Jelin resided.
Those participating in the rally, organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, united by the plight of the 132 hostages still languishing in Hamas captivity, are nevertheless gathered under a hopeful slogan: “Our hope is not yet lost.”
כיכר החטופים עכשיו. הרבה כאב וגם קצת תקווה. החזירו אותם בכל מחיר! pic.twitter.com/qzK4ppLiE1
— Erez Herzl Ruder????️ (@Ein_ZoAgada) May 13, 2024
Rabbi Zvi Hasid, the director-general of ZAKA rescue service, said that although this moment may be one of “mourning, crying, tears,” there is still a place for hope, assuring the crowd that from the “despair and destruction… the Jewish people will grow and fulfill its glory.”
“We see this in the last generation as well — from the Holocaust came a rebirth, and the Jewish people returned to its land and founded a state,” he adds.
Rabbi Tamir Granot, who leads the crowd in a prayer for the safety of the hostages and soldiers, concurs with the rescue organization head.
“When everything is good, when there is no anger or pain, one doesn’t need hope. It’s possible just to live well,” he says. “Exactly when it hurts, when we are angry, when the heart burns, when there is tension, when our children are captives under cruel enemies, we need that material called hope.”
Sharon Sharabi, the brother of Eli and the late Yossi Sharabi, who were both captured by Hamas terrorists on October 7, the latter likely killed mistakenly by the IDF in Gaza, lauds the audience gathered before the stage.
Sharabi tells the crowd that “we don’t feel independence tonight, but we feel each other, that everyone is looking at the person next to him and honoring the other.”
He honors his late brother, Yossi, who he calls the “heart of the family,” noting that he “cared for [other hostages] Ofir Engel and Amit Shani so that they wouldn’t be beaten in captivity, who every day gave up half a pita to give to the children [in captivity] so that they wouldn’t starve.”
“That is mutual responsibility, and for that we are all standing here. For Yossi, all the captives, and God willing, for Eli who will return,” he says.
