‘Pure outrage’: Diplomats from some 30 countries attend vigil for murdered hostages

Diplomats from some 30 countries, including, Britain, Germany, Austria, the Unites States, and India, attend a vigil at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum headquarters in Tel Aviv for the six hostages whose bodies were recovered over the weekend shortly after being murdered by Hamas.

US Ambassador Jack Lew says the killing of an American citizen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, “is not something we take lightly.”

“Our heartfelt condolences” for the slain hostages’ families, “but also pure outrage, is something that we want to share,” adds Lew.

Washington “from the president on down” is working toward a hostages-for-ceasefire deal, says Lew.

“For weeks, we’ve been saying that times is of the essence. Last night, we saw we’re already in overtime,” he adds.

After Lew speaks Ruby Chen, father of American-Israeli hostage Itay Chen. Quoting Martin Luther King Jr., Chen brings to bear “the urgency of now.”

“Yesterday is an inflection point,” he says. “There needs to be a change.”

“We have no time,” he says. “We urge the international community: please do more” for a hostage deal.

“If it means the international community needs to come up with a proposal and force it on all the parties, so be it,” says Chen.

Foreign diplomats representing some 30 nations light candles at a vigil for six hostages whose bodies the IDF said it recovered over the weekend shortly after they were murdered by Hamas, at the Hostages Families Forum headquarters in Tel Aviv. pic.twitter.com/x3qfwMHLY1

— Noam Lehmann (@insomniacalpaca) September 1, 2024

Asked if the day’s events would lead Berlin to pressure Israel toward a ceasefire, German Ambassador Steffen Seibert tells The Times of Israel that he is “not here to do political messages, I’m here to show my sympathy.”

“We’ve been advocating for a deal as the most important goal now for months,” says Seibert. “It’s going to be reinforced by this.”