Marching for the hostages in NY’s Central Park

As they do each week, dozens gathered in Manhattan’s Central Park on Sunday to silently march for the release of the hostages still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, 401 days after their abduction on Oct. 7, 2023. Similar marches take place weekly in other communities, including Riverdale.

“It’s been a difficult couple of weeks,” Moshe Lavi, the brother-in-law of Hamas captive Omri Miran, told JNS at the march, which was led by hostages’ relatives and members of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum in New York.

“It encourages us to see people come here every week to the park to be with us, the families in New York. I wish we didn’t need to be here. I hope over the next couple of months, the political change here will bring about progress in the hostage negotiations and a change in the mindset of the Israeli government and the international community,” he said.

“All we can do is continue marching, speak up and not lose hope,” he added. 

Prior to the march, Hamas captive Naama Levy’s aunt, Efrat Moshkoviz, and Atar Levy, who battled terrorists during the Hamas onslaught on Oct. 7, addressed the crowd.

“We have to keep fighting. With the change in administration, we need to start talking to different people, [but] it doesn’t change our actions,” Moshkoviz said. “Four hundred days makes it even more critical, along with every day that passes.”

In Jerusalem, Ayelet Levy Shachar, Naama’s mother, led a silent protest calling for the return of her daughter and the rest of the 101 hostages. In her speech, Moshkoviz addressed Naama.

“Time is passing and yet it stands still. It’s unfathomable that these words we said before are the same words we have been saying for 400 days and yet you are still not here,” Moshkoviz told the assembly.

“Maybe it is the very notion that there are no words left. We find ourselves here united with your mom and those joining her in Jerusalem in a silent protest. No words are left to describe the unbearable amount of pain,” she added. 

Ahead of the march, artists sang “Cover Me in Sunshine,” Naama Levy’s favorite song. The names of all 101 hostages were called out as the crowd chanted “Bring Them Home” after each name. All then prayed for their return and the crowd sang Hatikvah.

“We came here dressed in white to stand with 101 hostages, and stand with their mothers who are wearing white and demonstrating in Jerusalem today,” said Iris Carmel, who has been volunteering with the Hostage Forum in New York since its inception.

“Without their return, we won’t be able to recover. Nobody in Israel or in the world will feel safe until we bring them home. It will be the basis for healing, rebuilding our unity and building our future together,” she added.

Ron Segev, a survivor of the Hamas massacre at the Supernova Music Festival, currently in the United States to tell his story, attended Sunday’s march.

“Our brothers and sisters, parents, children, all of them are in Gaza in terrible conditions, and it’s not something I can accept silently. I am trying to put pressure on the US administration and on the terrorist groups holding our hostages. I am here to demand a change,” Segev said.

“I am 39, and I have a lot of younger friends who are having a hard time returning to normal life, and so do I,” he said. “Life is not just Oct. 7 and not just our trauma, there is a lot beyond that. We must not give the pain the power to decide over our lives, because we still have a long life to live.”

Evette Jody Stark, who is disabled, managed the march with the aid of a walker. “I’ve been coming here for eight months every Sunday. We have to be supportive of the families. We all have mothers, fathers, cousins, sisters and brothers,” she said.

“It’s not just about being Jewish, there are dozens of countries that have had their people held hostage. The Nova music festival [near Kibbutz Re’im in southern Israel, from where many of the captives were taken] was a dance and peace festival for all nationalities. People came from all over, and we still have seven American hostages held in Gaza,” she added.