Over 100 protestors stood in front of the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Thursday morning with yellow ribbons tied around their wrists, holding signs reading "help" in multiple languages.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum organized the demonstration to call on global leaders to reach an agreement to release all of the remaining 136 hostages.
Protestors lined the sidewalk in front of the UN visitors center chanting, "We demand a deal, now" and "Bring them home, alive."
Hostage and Missing Families Forum organizer Shany Granot-Lubaton said their message is for all parties involved in the negotiations: Israel, Qatar, Egypt, the US, and the UN.
Many families of hostages will take any deal at any cost
"These are crucial days," Granot yelled to the crowd through her megaphone. "There's a deal on the table. They're talking numbers. But these are not numbers for us. These are people."
For Ronnie Tamari, whose friend’s daughter was kidnapped and remains in Gaza, the government should agree to bring the hostages home.“I’m not protesting against the UN, I’m begging and crying for help,” Tamari said. “Bring them home now, while they’re still alive. I hope they’re alive, I don’t know that.”
And if that means a total ceasefire, Tamari says that's what should be done.
Mindy Feldman Hecht’s cousin, Omer Neutra, also remains hostage. Neutra, who is 22 years old, is a lone soldier originally from Long Island.Feldman Hecht said she wants to see all of the hostages returned home but doesn’t support a full ceasefire if it means Israel can no longer defend itself.Israeli-American Anat Goldberg was in southern Israel on October 7 when she heard the rocket fire coming from Gaza. If there is a deal, Goldberg said Israel should take it.“A deal is a deal. That means there’s another side, and the other side is a terrorist organization,” Goldberg said. “We’re making a deal with people who believe in killing babies and raping women to further their cause. As difficult as it is, those are the people we have to deal with right now. We will have to negotiate with them.”Goldberg said the priority should be releasing the hostages, not military engagement.“Israel has to stand by its commitment to keep its civilians and its soldiers safe. And at this point, there is an opportunity to make a deal,” Goldberg said. “We are here to demand from every nation in the UN, but Israel above all, that they do everything that is in their power to make this deal, as difficult as it is, as complicated as it is.”She said she’d support a full ceasefire – if it meant getting humanitarian aid into Gaza, for civilians and hostages. But Goldberg said there’s no one opinion in Israel when it comes to this.Goldberg thinks the humanists in Israel see the difficulty in Gaza, and those closest to the hostages are more inclined to want the war to end sooner and at any cost. But ideologues who are more removed from the hardship of the hostage’s families might take a different stance.“Those of us who care about civilians all over the world care that this is happening. And again, Hamas needs to perish,” Goldberg said. “But I don’t know that it can perish right now, in a matter of days, or weeks or months. I don’t know how it’s going to happen. But the lives of these people are perishing every day.”Granot-Lubaton, an outspoken Netanyahu critic who led protests against his proposed judicial reform in New York, urged the prime minister to “seal the deal.”“Of course, I want to see the end of the Hamas era in Gaza, also for the Palestinian people. But there will be a time to fight against Hamas,” Granot said. “There was a time before October 7, and my prime minister didn’t do so, unfortunately. And there will be a time after they will all be home safely.”“But there is absolutely nothing more important, more Jewish, more Zionist, more moral, than bringing them home. All of them,” Granot said. “I feel like this fight is like this very big puzzle, and everybody has their part. And our part is here, and it’s in front of the UN, and it’s in front of the US administration.”Granot praised US President Joe Biden, calling him the most “amazing supporter and friend.”And even though Biden’s administration continues to project confidence that a deal will be reached, Granot feels like there won’t soon be an end to the hostages’ plight.