Hope dies for LI’s lone soldier, slain on Oct. 7

On Sunday, Omer Neutra’s mother pled for her son’s life, at a weekly rally for the hostages in Central Park. Since the day he was carried into Gaza by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, there was hope that he’d return.

Until hope died with an IDF annoucement on Monday that Neutra, a native of Plainview, Long Island, and a citizen of both Israel and America, was dead, murdered by Hamas during their Oct. 7 invasion of the Jewish state. He was 21 when he died.

“For over a year now, we’ve been breathing life into your being, my beautiful boy, with no physical sign back from you — but with hope and love of so many, we kept going and going, keeping you alive, speaking your name from every outlet and every stage, pushing away any hint of despair, not stopping to breathe or to take in the deep pain of your absence,” Omer’s mother Orna said at a memorial service on Tuesday in the Midway Jewish Center, a conservative synagogue in Syosset.

“And now things are clear, but not as we hoped.”

Mouners included family, friends, members of Neutra’s expansive community, prominent Jewish and elected officials, and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son Hersh was also kidnapped and killed by Hamas.

People are expected to travel from a wide area to visit the family as they sit shiva at the Midway Jewish Center, through Thursday; the Riverdale Jewish Community Partnership chartered a bus to transport its members. Shiva will be completed in Israel.

“The truth is that we prayed, and the truth is that we davened, and the truth is that we sounded the shofar to crash the heavens, and the truth is that we lit extra Shabbat candles,” said Joel Levinson, Midway’s spiritual leader. “And the truth is that we wanted a different end to this story.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul directed flags at all state buildings lowered to half-staff following news of Omer’s death.

President Joe Biden said American “hearts are heavy today” and that he was “devastated, outraged.”

“Omer planned to return to the United States for college [he deferred his enrollment at Binghamton University],” Biden said, noting that he met less than a month ago with Omer’s parents at the White House. “He dreamed of dedicating himself to building peace.”

“To all the families of those still held hostage: We see you. We are with you, and I will not stop working to bring your loved ones back home where they belong.”

“This family has soldiered on through alternating deep sorrow and hopefulness, crushing anxiety and steely determination,” said Rep. Tom Suozzi, whose district includes Plainview. “I ask all of you to join me in holding the Neutra family close as they seek to find peace and meaning in this tragedy.”

Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US ambassador to Israel, wrote that he “got to know his parents on a flight to Israel in December of 2023. I wore a dog tag with Omer’s name as reminder of Americans held hostage. Heartbroken for his parents.”

Congresswoman-elect Laura Gillen, whose South Shore district includes the Five Towns, expressed her “deepest sympathy and prayers for his family.”

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said Neutra’s family “did everything possible. They have tremendous dignity, strength and courage.”

Rep. Ritchie Torres, whose district includes Riverdale, took to X to criticize a New York Times headline reporting Neutra’s death.

The Times headline read: “American Thought to Be Alive in Gaza Died on Oct. 7, Israel Says.”

Torres responded: “The whitewashing of October 7th is not a bug but a feature of the mainstream media’s coverage of Israel. Omer Neutra was not ‘thought to be alive in Gaza.’He was held hostage by Hamas. He did not simply die on October 7th. He was murdered by Hamas in an act of terroism. Stop sanitizing savagery.”

See also: ‘Always looked out for the little guy,’ friends say of Omer Neutra