From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 28, 2024
Women dressed as hostage Naama Levy highlight plight of female captives at Knesset panel: ‘We won’t give up’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
A group of barefoot women, their hands zip-tied behind their backs, enter the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality and stand behind chairwoman MK Pnina Tamano-Shata as Shiri Elbag, the mother of hostage Liri Albag, describes the conditions under which the hostages are being held.
The women are dressed to resemble Naama Levy, who served alongside Shiri Albag and whose abduction with bloodstained sweatpants was seen in a harrowing video on October 7.
A guard rushes to stop the women until Tamano-Shata, a lawmaker from the opposition National Unity party, explains that they are invited.
Shiri Albag notes the paucity of MKs and ministers during the hearing. Tamano-Shata replies that it is easy for people to close their eyes but “we won’t give up.”
Hostages like Liri, a 19-year-old female soldier who was abducted from her base at Nahal Oz on the morning of October 7, “deserve to live normal lives,” Albag states.
As Albag speaks, the women parade through the committee room, their faces and bodies painted with marks resembling bloody wounds, before returning to stand behind Tamano-Shata.
The Times of Israel Community.