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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 617

Emily Damari

Former hostage Emily Damari speaks to Channel 12 in a segment aired May 31, 2025. (Screen capture: Channel 12)
June 1, 2025, 10:13 pm
Emily Damari, ex-hostage with a ‘golden heart,’ proudly recalls irking her captors
Spunky survivor tells Israeli TV she kept her sexual orientation a secret from Hamas, says ‘craziest moments’ of captivity were learning her mom is alive and being picked up by Red Cross
By ToI Staff
Released hostage Emily Damari celebrates with hundreds of fans outside the soccer stadium of Tottenham Hotspurs in London, May 11, 2025. (Embassy of Israel in the UK/ Pomi Ofir Tal)
May 12, 2025, 11:42 am
Tottenham soccer fans welcome ex-hostage Emily Damari to stadium
Hundreds greet lifelong fan when she arrives to see her team play at London home ground; Emily releases 59 yellow balloons, calls for release of remaining captives from Gaza
By ToI Staff
A sign with the poem "What A Gazan Should Do During An Israeli Air Strike," by Mosab Abu Toha (inset) is seen at the University of California, Berkeley, pro-Palestinian student encampment, May 4, 2024. (Jay L. Clendenin/Getty Images via JTA)
May 8, 2025, 2:13 pm
Ex-hostage Damari decries Pulitzer given to Gazan writer who legitimized their abduction
Emily Damari lashes out at prize committee for bestowing honor on Mosab Abu Toha, who called captives ‘killers’ and cast doubt on Bibas children’s murder in social media rants
By ToI Staff
The dress rehearsal of Israel's 77th Independence Day ceremony at Mount Herzl, Jerusalem, April 28, 2025. The dress rehearsal was broadcast on television following the live performance's cancellation.(Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
May 1, 2025, 1:48 am
Ex-hostages star in recorded Independence Day ceremony after live event canceled
Agam Berger plays violin and Emily Damari lights torch in taping of dress rehearsal that was aired after ceremony called off due to strong winds, which sparked major fires; Channel 14 does not show Dana International
By ToI Staff
Most of this year's Independence Day torch-lighters pose for a photo outside the Knesset with Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and Transportation Minister Miri Regev, April 28, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
April 30, 2025, 9:46 am
‘Bridges of Hope’: The torch-lighters at Israel’s 77th Independence Day celebration
Annual event features freed hostage Emily Damari, cultural icons Zehava Ben and Omri Casspi, and more controversial figures Dana International and Ben Shapiro
By Amy Spiro
Left to right: Ben Shapiro speaks on stage during The Daily Wire Presents Backstage Live at Ryman Auditorium on August 14, 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Jason Davis / Getty Images via AFP); Freed hostage Emily Damari being prepped for surgery at Sheba Medical Center on March 2, 2025.(Credit Pomi Ofi Tal); Oren Smadga at the 2024 Paris Olympics on July 30, 2024. (Olympic Committee of Israel)
April 20, 2025, 11:29 pm
Ben Shapiro to be honored at Independence Day event alongside ex-hostage, IDF officers
Choice of right-wing American pundit met with backlash from LGBT rights group; also tapped are freed hostage Emily Damari and Olympic medalist and bereaved father Oren Smadga
By ToI Staff and Emanuel Fabian
Release hostages Emily Damari addressing a soccer crowd at Bloomfield Stadium, Tel Aviv, March 15, 2025. (X screenshot)
March 16, 2025, 4:16 pm
Hostages feted as they attend first soccer games since release
Emily Damari leads crowd at Bloomfield Stadium in singing of Maccabi Tel Aviv anthem; Romi Gonen invited to meet Hapoel Haifa players
By Michael Horovitz
Freed hostage Emily Damari being prepped for surgery on her left hand at Sheba Medical Center on March 2, 2025, after she was shot on October 7, 2023, and not given proper medical care during 15 months of Hamas captivity in Gaza. (Credit Pomi Ofi Tal)
March 2, 2025, 7:43 pm
Freed hostage Emily Damari undergoes surgery on hand shot on October 7
Mandy Damari, the former captive’s mother, says her daughter was ‘sewn up like a pin cushion’ by Hamas
By Jessica Steinberg
Family members of hostages honored on International Women's Day at the Peres Center on February 19, 2025 (Courtesy)
February 19, 2025, 8:40 pm
Hostages’ mothers, wives and sisters honored on Int. Women’s Day
Peres Center honors women who are shaping Israel’s post-October 7 recovery: ‘We’re fighters and we’ll change the world with our acts’
By Jessica Steinberg
Meirav Leshem Gonen, mother of released hostage Romi Gonen, speaks to The Times of Israel on February 5, 2025 (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)
February 5, 2025, 8:03 pm
Despite suffering, Romi Gonen returned from captivity with a smile, says mother
Meirav Leshem Gonen tells ToI about the terrible conditions her daughter endured, hails all the hostages who’ve come home as ‘true survivors… they decided to live’
By Jessica Steinberg
Emily Damari at the ruined home from where she was abducted by terrorists on October 7, 2023, seen during a visit to the site, February 2, 2025. (Emily Damari/Instagram)
February 3, 2025, 8:37 am
Hamas captivity survivor Emily Damari returns to spot of her abduction in Kfar Aza
Freed hostage posts ‘I’m back’ along with photo of herself sitting among ruins of apartment from where terrorists abducted her in October 2023; urges freeing all hostages
By Stuart Winer and ToI Staff
Emily (right) and Mandy Damari on the phone to UK PM Keir Starmer, January 31, 2025. (Courtesy)
February 1, 2025, 3:12 am
Emily Damari’s mom: My daughter was held in UNRWA facilities, denied medical treatment
‘It’s a miracle she survived,’ Mandy Damari says after speaking with British PM Keir Starmer; UN agency, which Israel just banned, calls for ‘very serious claim’ to be investigated
By ToI Staff
Arbel Yehoud, third from left, with her parents and siblings on an IDF helicopter after being freed from captivity on January 30, 2025. (Courtesy)
February 1, 2025, 12:32 am
Arbel Yehoud’s father to PM: Go through with the deal, free the hostages, end the war
Yehiel Yehud hails Trump, Witkoff for helping seal agreement: ‘Knew how to speak Trumpish in the Mideast’; ex-captive Liri Albag vows to ‘not stop fighting until everyone is home’
By ToI Staff
Emily Damari poses with a Spurs scarf, January 22, 2025. (Courtesy)
January 27, 2025, 11:07 am
Tottenham soccer fans celebrate release of hostage Emily Damari
Spurs, Chelsea, Arsenal supporters set aside intense rivalry to celebrate as they cover up Damari ‘kidnapped’ posters with new stickers celebrating fellow fan’s release
By ToI Staff
Captivity survivor Emily Damari, left, and hostage Kieth Siegel. (Courtesy)
January 25, 2025, 1:18 pm
Emily Damari said to have asked Hamas captors to release Keith Siegel, 65, before her
Siegel, slated for release later in first phase, is believed in worse shape; his daughter Shir extols Damari, who was shot in hand when abducted, as ‘once-in-a-generation friend’
By ToI Staff
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