On October 7th, Or Levy, 33, and his wife Eynav, 32, attended the Nova festival, arriving just moments before Hamas terrorists launched the deadliest civilian massacre in Israeli history. Eynav was killed, and Or remains a captive in Gaza. Their three-year-old child, Almog, is now left without both parents.
“Or and Eynav arrived at the festival around 6:20 am, about 10 minutes before hell started. When the missile attack began, they immediately ran into a bomb shelter. At first, they thought they were safe there, but unfortunately, a few minutes later, they realized that terrorists were around,” Michael Levy recalled.
He shared with The Media Line that Or, terrified, was calling their mother from the shelter.
“He said, ‘Mom, you don't want to know what's happening here.’ A few minutes after this call, the terrorists arrived at their bomb shelter, sprayed it with bullets, and started throwing grenades,” Levy said.
That was when Eynav was murdered right in front of Or, and afterward, Or was abducted.
“Almog, who turned three last week, was left without a mother. Unfortunately, for now, without a father as well,” shared Levy.
He told The Media Line that Almog always asks about his parents; however, their memories are slowly fading from the child’s mind.
“He's starting to forget because he's only three. That's one of the most difficult things. We try to remind him that Or is still there, but it's not easy,” shared Levy.
Forgetting the hostages
Levy expressed his greatest fear that people will become desensitized to the fact that there are hostages in Gaza.
“People will forget. They get tired of it. But the hostages are still there. They're still alive. We still have to get them back, but without people, our own governments, and the media, we cannot maintain the same pressure,” he said.
One reason Levy and his family decided to release the video of Or’s abduction, along with that of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Eliya Cohen, on June 24 was to remind the world of their plight. Levy admitted that deciding to publish the video wasn’t easy, but the relatives needed to keep the issue in the public eye.
“Our job is to keep this on the agenda until they return. We don't have the privilege to give up, forget, or move on with our lives. We have to get them back because nothing will be the same without them,” he shared.
“I know that people started to talk about it again and to discuss the whole story. And I think it's important that people see their faces and understand that they are innocent civilians surrounded by evil monsters who celebrate their suffering. There's nothing heroic about it. Terrorists are not freedom fighters. Freedom fighters do not kill civilians and celebrate when they see death,” Levy told The Media Line.
“I'm not naive. I know that people will forget about it even this week. Our job is to keep doing this over and over again until someone decides it's enough, and the international community puts pressure on Qatar and Egypt to make Hamas release the hostages,” he shared.
Hostage deal now
Levy emphasized that the Israeli government must strike a deal to release all the hostages as soon as possible. They know what they need to do, he claimed.
“The world has to convince Hamas to agree to the deal that President Biden outlined. Israel already said they agreed to it. Now it's in the hands of the international community to make Hamas agree to it,” he explained.
Levy shared with The Media Line that the families do not need help from humanitarian organizations.
“We cannot keep calling them humanitarian organizations because they are only humanitarian as long as it’s not related to the hostages. They didn’t do anything for them. They didn’t visit, didn’t put pressure on Hamas, even for basic things like medicines. None of the hostages got medical aid,” he said.
“It’s not even about Israel. There are foreign citizens held hostage as well, Muslims and Christians, people from all nationalities. But organizations only care about politics and getting money from the international community,” Levy shared.
“For people, he's just another name or another face. For me, he's my little brother. I miss the small things, like picking up the phone and talking to him about day-to-day things,” Levy said.
He told The Media Line that both brothers love basketball and have many memories of going to games together.
“One of the funniest memories we have is that in one of the most important games of the year, we went to a game and accidentally bought tickets to the wrong part of the venue. We sat with the other team’s fans and were afraid that they would beat us. We kept talking about it for years after,” he shared.
“Or is a fun person to be with, very smart. He's actually the genius of the family. If you need help, he's your guy. Just talk to him about anything, and he'll do it,” said Levy.
Bringing them home is unconnected to Israel-Palestinian politics
“I want people to separate politics from it. I know it's very easy to connect the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the hostages, but that's not the issue here. We're talking about 120 innocent civilians who were abducted from their beds, from music festivals, doing day-to-day things that everyone in the world does. They were brutally attacked by terrorists,” he emphasized.
“I want people to remember those faces and remember that there are families behind them, like a three-year-old boy who already lost his mother and is waiting for his father,” Levy shared.