From the Liveblog of
Thursday, May 16, 2024
US, UK, German envoys to address Saturday hostage rally; Eden Golan, Netta Barzilai to perform
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
The upcoming Saturday night rally for the hostages will have an international tone, announces the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
The group is calling on the global community to join the effort for the release of 132 captives in Gaza, noting that Hamas is holding hostages from 24 different countries.
Speakers will include US ambassador Jack Lew, UK ambassador Simon Walters, German ambassador Steffen Seibert and Austrian ambassador Nikolaus Lutterotti, as well as video messages from former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and talk show host Dr. Phil, who was just in Israel, interviewing hostage families and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hostage family members holding foreign citizenship will also speak, including US citizen Jonathan Dekel-Chen, whose son Sagui Dekel-Chen is a hostage; Argentinian-Israeli Itzik Horn, whose sons Eitan and Yair Horn are held captive; Ayala Yahalomi, sister of French-Israeli hostage Ohad Yahalomi and Russian-Israeli Evgeny Kozlov, whose son Andrey Kozlov is a hostage.
Musical performers on Saturday night will include Lola Marsh, Eurovision 2018 winner Netta Barzilai, singer-songwriter Noga Erez, American singer Montana Tucker and Israel’s Eurovision 2024 performer Eden Golan who will sing “October Rain,” the original version of the official Eurovision entry “Hurricane,” which had several verses removed by organizers because they referred to the October 7 attacks by Hamas.
The Times of Israel Community.