I have no words, only heartbreak.
Three generations of one beautiful family-erased.
Shiri Bibas, a devoted mother, was murdered in captivity alongside her baby boys, Kfir and Ariel.
Her parents, her own source of love and strength, were burned alive in their home by Hamas on October 7th. A family that should have been celebrating life was instead hunted, tortured, and annihilated.
Today, they were finally laid to rest. Tens of thousands stood still, a nation in mourning, refusing to let them be forgotten.
This was more than a funeral—it was a reckoning. A testament to who we are.
Because we cherish every life. We do not glorify death; we grieve it.
We do not parade bodies through the streets; we bury them with love, with honor, with the unbearable weight of knowing what was stolen. Our mourning is not weakness— it is strength. It is proof that we will never become like those who celebrate our suffering.
Shiri, Kfir, Ariel-you were more than victims. You were hope.
You were proof that even in the face of unimaginable cruelty, we hold onto our humanity. We fought for you. We prayed for your return. We held onto hope until the last possible moment. And now, we carry you forward-not as numbers, not as symbols, but as an eternal reminder of what we fight for.
Yarden, you are not alone. The people of Israel, the Jewish people, and all good people everywhere are holding you up.
Your pain is our pain. Your loss is our loss. And we will never stop telling the world what was taken from you. I am so sorry.
We are a people who mourn. We are a people who remember. And because of that, we will prevail.
May their memories be a blessing. May we never stop fighting for a world where no family suffers this again. 🧡💔
It was on Feb. 21, 2002, 21 yrs ago, that a team of FBI agents knocked on the door and asked us to sit down. "Bad?" we asked - "Yes". "Are you sure?" - "Yes" -- Our son Danny is no more, after 30 days of roller-coaster uncertainty. And to think that the Bibas family has endured this hell for 500 days makes your hair stand. May their souls ignite renewed global resolve to end man’s inhumanity to man.
Families that have been murdered by Hamas on Oct 7🧵
1/ The Kotz family. They were found dead in their home at kibbutz Kfar Aza embracing each other. They were buried side by side.
For 15 months, our friend Maureen Leshem here in Toronto held immense grace, courage and strength despite her personal pain, to keep her cousin Romi at the forefront of our collective fight to bring them all home.
Maureen has relentlessly championed her cousins freedom and has passionately worked to ensure the voice of all hostages and their families were heard. She is a warrior for justice.
Today, Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher are coming home after being held in the terror tunnels of hell for 471 days.
Our girls are coming home.
The days, months and years ahead will not be easy. It will take immense healing. But with the love and support that surrounds them, they will dance again.
Sending love, strength and support to their families, to all who await their loved ones and mourn together with the family and friends of all who have lost their sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers. You are not alone.
All 98.
Maureen, we love you and stand with you on this path to healing.
#BringThemHomeNow
#BringThemAllHomeNow
Six hostages. Six families. Broken. Shattered. Never to be put back together again.
They will continue breathing but not truly living.
This isn’t time for politics or for talk of war. This is time for crying, national and international mourning.
It might not be time for anger but we are consumed by anger. Hatred. Disgust.
We pray that these are the last of them and that the rest will be brought home alive to embrace their families. We pray, but we are skeptical.
We are skeptical because the creatures that took these six beautiful souls are real life monsters who quench their thirst with innocent blood.
Our mothers told us there are no such thing as monsters. Not in real life.
Our mothers lied to us. They didn’t prepare us for this. These creatures are real life monsters in the purest sense of the word.
These six beautiful souls might not be our children, but they are, they’re all our children.
We don’t want to know how they died, how they were murdered. Our hearts surely can’t handle the details and neither can our souls.
Poor children, poor parents, poor siblings, poor families.
This morning, an entire country wakes up to hear the worst news of all. Our last shred of hope, our attempt to hold on to that little bit of optimism, that dream came to an abrupt ending and we fear that the nightmare is not over.
This might not be time for politics or war, but these creatures, these monsters, they cannot be allowed to share our oxygen. They must be removed from our planet.
This morning is filled with deep sadness and devastation. The entire country, the entire nation, the entire free world, at least those who still possess a moral compass, we cry together for these poor families.
There are no real words to comfort them so we just share in their sadness and say everything will be ok. But we know it won’t. None of this is ok.
Yehi Zichram Baruch. יהי זכרם ברוך.
They should rest in peace.
We owe them everything, and we won’t forget them.
My thoughts are with the families of hostages who are waiting to learn if bodies recovered by the IDF in Gaza are their loved ones.
This is an unbearably dark and devastating chapter of Jewish history.
It’s Thursday August 1, 2024 AND EVAN IS FREE!!!!
Detained by the Russian FSB Mar 29, 2023, 1 year & 124 days ago, today in a prisoner swap, EVAN HAS BEEN FREED!
JOURNALISM IS NOT A CRIME!
#IStandwithEvan