Assemblymember Nily Rozic, Deputy Consul General of Israel Tsach Saar Host Fresh Meadows Gathering
A hastily arranged meeting with family members of hostages and survivors of the fateful massacre in Israel on October 7 was convened by Assemblymember Nily Rozic at the behest of Israel’s Deputy Consul General in New York, Tsach Saar. The private gathering, held at Rozic’s Union Turnpike office, attracted a wide range of elected officials spanning Queens politics. The meeting lasted only an hour but made a tremendous impact, opening the eyes of many in attendance to the horrors that led Israel to embark on their unprecedented war.
Tears were shed, hugs were shared, and voices of courage emerged as legislators with sizable pro-Palestinian constituencies learned of new ways to brand Israel’s plight to bring home over 130 captives violently taken some 75 days ago. As Holocaust descendants, we are the multi-generational voices that push the hostage stories as we understand how important it is to document those who witnessed such barbarity. Oddly, as America celebrated October 7 as National Inner Beauty Day to bring awareness to human trafficking, over 1,200 Israelis were raped, tortured, and murdered by a brutal, trained Hamas terrorist entity.
“I’m one of two now Israeli-born members of any state legislature in the country,” opened Assemblymember Rozic, the first US elected official of Israeli origin. “With that comes a lot of responsibility that I represent this community, more broadly, not just in New York but across the country.” Rozic added about the hostages: “Keep their names at the tip of our tongues.”
“There’s something special about this intimate setting that allows us to be more open to ask questions and to talk,” noted Saar as the family members prepared to share their accounts. His talk was brief, to allow for more time for the families to share their stories.
“We will continue knocking on each door possible around the globe to try to get any support, any help as we scream for help,” said the founder of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum / Bring Them Home Now. “We beg for help for us to echo the most vital wish that one could have, to have back his or her family members, civilians, who were kidnapped from the bed...from a music festival.”
Rozic organized a very diverse group of legislators from across the city and state. “I wanted to bring us together in our diversity to show strength and solidarity with all of you and your families,” she told the guests from Israel.
The delegation included legislators, some of whom are longtime Israel supporters, some have large Jewish constituencies, some have family who live there, some had family perished in the Shoah, and some have visited Israel. They included: State Senators Leroy Comrie (Southeastern Queens neighborhoods of Briarwood, Cambria Heights, Hollis, Hollis Hills, Hillcrest, Jamaica, Jamaica Estates, Jamaica Hills, Kew Gardens, Laurelton, Queens Village, Rosedale, South Jamaica, Springfield Gardens and St. Albans); John Liu (Flushing, Bayside, and Fresh Meadows); Toby Ann Stavisky (Flushing, College Point, Whitestone, Bayside, Douglaston-Little Neck, Hollis, Bellerose); and Assemblymembers Ed Braunstein (Bayside, Douglaston, Little Neck, Beechhurst, and parts of Whitestone, Glen Oaks, and Auburndale); Catalina Cruz (Jackson Heights, Corona, and Elmhurst); Jessica González-Rojas (Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst, Corona, Woodside, and Astoria); Andrew Hevesi (Forest Hills, Rego Park, Kew Gardens, and Middle Village); Ron Kim (Flushing, Whitestone); Ed Ra (Nassau towns of Hempstead, North Hempstead, Oyster Bay); Alec Brook-Krasny (Southern Brooklyn); Sam Berger (Kew Gardens Hills, Pomonok, Electchester, College Point, Whitestone, Forest Hills, Briarwood); Alicia Hyndman (Laurelton, Rosedale, St. Albans, Addisleigh Park, Hollis, Springfield Gardens, Jamaica); Amanda Septimo (South Bronx).
“For us this is not an Israeli issue, or a Jewish issue; for us it is a humanitarian issue that concerns African Americans and Latinos, and Christians and non-Christians, regardless of race, color, or beliefs,” said Hila, the delegation leader. “Please remember we are families; we are brothers and sisters.”
Gil Benjamin, gripping a poster of her 53-year-old father Ron, described how he enjoys a Saturday bicycle ride. “Unfortunately, that Saturday he went to Kibbutz Be’eri to ride.” With emotion, Gil described a single phone call with her dad, her best friend, as the sounds of bombs were heard flying overhead. “The only thing I want is to come back home so you won’t be alone,” he said while driving on Road 232. Soon after, his vehicle was shot at by the terrorists, and he was subsequently taken to Gaza. “For 50 days, we didn’t know if he was kidnapped,” Gil explained, as Ron was alone at the time and no video of his capture surfaced. “Every day was miserable; every knock on the door we thought was going to be the army saying that they found his body.” Once learning of her father’s captivity, Gil described the sensation as a sense of “power” providing the “opinion” that he may return. “I’m here to ask you to help us because the time is gone and every day it can change. We don’t know if he’s alive or dead.” Gil pleaded for help so her dad could one day walk down the aisle at her wedding and help her raise children. “I can’t describe you how hard it is that one day you have with dinner with him on Friday and the next day he is kidnapped.”
“She was murdered at the Black Shabbat,” were the painful words of Eyal as he described how his daughter Roni, 19, “a beautiful soldier,” was lost while on duty at a communication lookout watching the camera feed as Hamas breached the high-tech barrier. “With another 18 girls, soldiers on the base of Nachal Oz, 780 meters from the border between Israel and Gaza.” Eyal added, “The lovely girl from two hours after she born, she smiled every day, every hour.”
Alex Lubnov’s sister Shylee, 22, spoke through tears of her brother, 32, the head barman at the Supernova festival who hid from the terrorists with five others in an olive orchard, before losing contact with his six-months pregnant wife Michal with whom he shares a two-year-old son. “Her pregnancy is in danger and his child looks for him every day asking where he is.” Shylee also mentioned that Alex requires antibiotics for bacteria that may soon take his leg.
Lily, whose nieces Ela and Dafna Elyakim, 8 and 15, were released on November 26 after being taken captive from their beds in Nachal Oz, spoke next. Their father, his partner, and her son were murdered. Lily detailed how their father was forced to lure out neighbors saying that all was okay only to watch them be killed. She spoke of the terrorists stitching the young girl’s fingers without anesthesia from ricochet injuries, causing her to pass out four times. Despite being told that they are not wanted back home, the girls maintained their faith, recalling their family’s efforts to bring back Gilad Shalit, who was held captive for five years.
Avivish spoke of the pain that her sister-in-law, her son and daughter, and her parents have as they await word of her brother, Chanan Yablonka, 42, who was also taken from the festival. Next, Shlomi Ziv’s sister, Revital Azulay, discussed how Shlomi was working security at the festival and helped many escape. The family continues to pray for a miracle.
Rozic acknowledged that the conflict as a whole is controversial within the constituencies represented, but stressed that they must never forget the hostages and the humanitarian effort required as leaders. She encouraged electeds to take photos with the guests as well as replacing fliers of captives that have been torn down. Rozic pledged to hang the posters in her Albany office and urged her colleagues to follow suit. “Amplify their stories. Don’t forget that there are 135 people still trapped without even the Red Cross visiting the captives.” Senator Comrie stated, “We all have to try to make sure that we continue to raise our voices, that those who had a family member ripped from his/her life get some closure one way or another.”
Hila, invoking 9/11, took aim at the UN for not standing firmly against the rape, murder, kidnapping of Jews. “The UN Women organization should stand up and say rape is a crime against humanity – a war crime.” She suggested that at holiday gatherings, a chair with a photo of a hostage be placed as a symbolic gesture much like is done for Eliyahu HaNavi at the Pesach Seder.
Rabbi David Wise of Cong. Etz Hayim at Hollis Hills Bayside is the father of two Israelis and has a son who is a lone soldier. He urged elected officials to condemn the tearing down of captive posters that give a face and name – an important Jewish customs to raise up a name – saying, “I can’t fathom a crueler act in the face of the Jewish community here and of the families who are praying and pleading for their loved ones to come home.”
“During the Holocaust, Hitler’s plan was just to erase names to make sure that no one remembered individual Jews,” concluded a teary-eyed Rozic. “It was the goal of the final solution. When you are tearing down posters, that is exactly what you’re invoking, and the intergenerational trauma that many of us hold comes to life.”
“After October 7, I wanted to make sure that I understood what it was that we were talking about,” related Assemblymember Berger, who has sisters and extended family living in Israel. “I made myself sit and watched not the videos that we got from the IDF, but from the videos that Hamas themselves put out.” Berger saw “evil and cruelty” through films of terrorists rejoicing atop a woman’s mangled body or crying women with bloodied pants pushed into cars, but was overcome by the “joy in torture” of terrorists forcing a small boy to call out for his parents, unaware that they were murdered. Berger’s colleague Brook-Krasny noted that Hamas’ origin of seeking profit began in Syria and Lebanon, where they killed Arabs, deeming their group unworthy of receiving asylum from any Arab country. Responding to Assemblymember Kim, Hila advocated for echoing education of the facts that there was a ceasefire in effect on October 6, and that Israel left Gaza two decades ago, and that invading another country’s borders and the kidnapping of civilians from their beds cannot be allowed anywhere.
By Shabsie Saphirstein
