An army of senators and congresspeople has passionately championed the cause of freeing those held captive in Gaza, according to a prominent Chabad rabbi, who spoke to The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
His comment came on the same day that the Israeli government voted to accept a partial hostage deal.
Last week, on November 14, the same day as the March for Israel, some 170 family members of hostages met with a group of around 30 senators and congresspeople. They shared their stories and received feedback from the legislators – nine Democratic and 13 Republican senators and three each from the House of Representatives.
The politicians committed to get involved in the White House efforts to have the hostages released, according to American consultant and pollster Frank Luntz, who helped organize the visit.
“Freeing the hostages became the mission of the entire power elite of Washington, DC,” Luntz told the Post. “I had several meetings about it the next day, and I know this to be true.”
The visit was paid for by Chabad of Israel’s Terror Victim Project, a nonprofit humanitarian organization with the sole mission of helping victims of terror and war and their families throughout Israel. It was organized locally by Chabad's Rabbi Mendel Fogelman, Rabbi Yaakov Fellig, Rabbi Mushi Fogelman, and Rabbi Zalman Fellig.
Before heading to Washington, the hostage families traveled to New York to visit the grave of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the late Lubavitcher Rebbe.
"Historic, emotional, bicameral, and bipartisan"
Fogelman described the event held in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill as “historic, emotional, bicameral, and bipartisan.” The hostage families included brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, spouses, and children. They came to the hall holding posters of their loved ones and shared their heart-wrenching stories.
The family members pleaded for America’s support to help bring the hostages home and out of Hamas’s grip.
“I’m Sigi, Eliya’s mother,” said Sigi Cohen, mother of hostage Eliya Cohen. “Eliya was kidnapped from the Nova party. I know that he is hurt in his leg because they shot him, the terrorists attacked him, and they threw an RPG to the shelter where he was. And from this moment, we don’t know anything about him.
“For 38 days, we didn't know anything about him,” she continued. “We don’t have no day and no night. We are not eating. All of these families are very worried about their sons and their daughters. And we ask of you, please, please, please do anything to bring them back now: today, today!”
“We do stand with you,” responded House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas, 10th District). “I am working tirelessly on getting [the hostages] out... Lightness will defeat darkness.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Arkansas) said, “The United States stands with Israel. We stand with you. We will bring your families home.”
On Tuesday, 170 family members of Israeli hostages flew to Washington to tell their stories.Led by @RepMcCaul and @SenJohnBarrasso, a bipartisan group of 27 House and Senate members listened and pledged to act.Tragically, two hostages have been found murdered since the event. pic.twitter.com/0pWdyyoXX6
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) November 17, 2023
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) noted that “a picture is worth a thousand words... Your being here is the most powerful message we could possibly see.”
Luntz said he was approached about the event shortly before Shabbat, only a few days before it was supposed to happen. However, “like a Hanukkah miracle,” everything fell into place. He said he was aided by the offices of Congressman McCaul and Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyoming).
The governor of Virginia arranged for Virginia state troopers to provide the travelers with an extra layer of security. And Chabad of Israel arranged for an El Al charter plane to land at Dulles Airport for the first time that they were aware of.
Because the event was so last minute, the stage had no official backdrop. The senators and congresspeople spoke in an empty room, alone on the stage. At one point, the family members wanted to approach and thank them. Ultimately, they joined the politicians at the front of the room.
“It was actually brilliant because it was so spontaneous,” Luntz recalled. “By the final speeches, it was the most beautiful quilt of justice and power standing side by side. Democrats and Republicans, senators and congresspeople, interacting physically and emotionally with the hostages.
“This would be equivalent to all political parties of the Knesset coming together not to argue but to praise,” Luntz said. “It took an Israeli tragedy to unite an American institution.”
Among the other senators in attendance were Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), Ben Cardin (D-Maryland), Steve Daines (R-Montana), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire), Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi), James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), James Risch (R-Idaho), Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri), John Thune (R-South Dakota), Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Mark Warner (D-Virginia), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon).
The congresspeople included Ben Cline (R-Virginia), Madeleine Dean (D-Pennsylvania), Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts), Gregory Meeks (D-New York), and Marcus Molinaro (R-New York).
Trip was spearheaded by Chabad, as visit to Rebbe's gravesite
HOWEVER, THE IDEA for the trip had nothing to do with Washington, explained Fogelman. Instead, it was spearheaded by Chabad, who wanted to offer the families a spiritual visit to the Ohel (tent gravesite) of the Rebbe, where families could engage in prayers for the safe return of their loved ones.
“The goal of the whole trip was to bring them to New York, to the resting place of the holy Rebbe, where people from all over the world go in bad times and good,” Fogelman said.
At the gravesite, the families sang “Ani Ma’amin” (I Believe), and they heard from speakers who shared the Rebbe’s wisdom and other words of inspiration, and who explained how to write a letter to the Rebbe and speak to him. Each of the 170 family members went into the tent in shifts. They also participated a group reading of Psalms.
Rabbi Fellig read the names of each hostage, prayed for them, and then left their names on the gravesite.
“The Jewish world knows that the best address is still the Rebbe," Fogelman said. "Hopefully, we will hear good news."