lighting for the Release of the Hostages – Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, symbolizes our unity, resilience and spiritual victory. This year, our candle-lighting acquires greater significance and relevance for us as a people, in the wake of the difficult years we have endured together. This Chanukah, we shall remember and publicize the plight of the dozens of hostages, our brothers and sisters, still being held in captivity by Hamas. The World Zionist Organization and the Directorate for Hostages, Missing Persons and Returnees at the Prime Minister’s Office invite Jews the world over to participate in an event designed to raise awareness about the campaign for the hostages’ release and light the way for their families. On the eve of the fifth night of Chanukah, Sunday December 29 – 29 Kislev, we shall come together to pray and hope for their return home, dedicating the fifth evening of the festival to a public appeal for their release. The Jewish community in Israel and around the world is invited to join this project and send in photos with their chanukiyot (Chanukah lights) set against the Israeli flag, a yellow ribbon, a photo of the hostages, or a special prayer, and so join the call for their release, in a clear and focused message.
The World Zionist Organization accepted the call to serve Israel and committed to rendering operational assistance to the Hostages and Missing Persons Administration, which carries the sacred charge of planning care for and responding to the needs of the hostages and their families. This week, members of the Administration were the guests of the World Zionist Organization for one day, on a program that opened at Israel’s National Memorial Hall and took in a tour of the Herzl Museum on Mount Herzl, with a wreath-laying ceremony, and closed with a visit to the National Institutions building.
An agreement was signed between the Authority and the World Zionist Organization, whereby the World Zionist Organization will operate the Authority, which deals with the hostages and their families, through the offices of a subsidiary company that will be established for this purpose. The Authority is charged with addressing all the hostages’ requirements and needs, together with those of their respective families – in relation to welfare, education, health, or any other therapeutic or administrative need they may have in the years ahead.
representing one half year of continued captivity for the 134 hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas terrorist organization. The Head of Department for Social Activism & Tikkun Olam joined the central rally organized by the Forum for the Families of the Hostages in Washington D.C., to call for the urgent and immediate return of all 134 hostages still held captive by Hamas.
A representative of the Department for Combating Antisemitism and Enhancing Resilience participated at a rally in support of the hostages, held opposite the office of the CEO of UN Women in New York, as part of International Women’s Day activities to spotlight to the world the fact that 19 women and girls have been and are still being held hostage by Hamas, since their abduction on October 7.
The artistic exhibit at Hostages’ Square in Tel Aviv has been reproduced and transferred for display at significant sites in London. The mobile display has been exhibited at major venues, such as Trafalgar Square, Oxford Road, opposite the British Houses of Parliament, etc. It has been given major media exposure and the overwhelming response it has received from the wider public has been one of interest and admiration. However, it has also met with some blatant and vocal opposition to the exhibit and expressions of anti-Israel sentiment. The display at London venues was made possible by The Department for Israel and Holocaust Commemoration and the assistance of the World Zionist Organization Representative of the Executive in London and the full cooperation of the Israeli and Jewish communities and their respective volunteers.
This project brings together groups of people in various neighborhoods within Jewish communities around the world on a weekly basis for an 18-minute, one-kilometer walk or short run to spotlight the call for the release of the hostages. The timing of 18 minutes is the symbolic Hebrew Chai (ח"י ), meaning Life. The World Zionist Organization Chairman joined a group of hundreds of participants in Manhattan, New York, as they paraded with Israeli flags and photos of the hostages.
An event calling for the release of the hostages was held in New York, attended by Avichai Brodetz, whose wife and three children were released from Hamas captivity on November 26, as well as the Chairman of the World Zionist Organization. During the rally, participants talked about the importance of the precept of Pidyon Shevuyim (Redemption of Prisoners) in Judaism and the concerted efforts by Israeli forces to achieve a decisive victory. In addition to a thanksgiving prayer for the release of the hostages who have returned, prayers were recited for the return of all the hostages and for our IDF soldiers’ triumph over our brutal enemy.
A tree-planting ceremony on behalf of the hostages ceremony took place on Kibbutz Ruhama during the week of the Tu B’Shvat, the festival symbolizing the strength of our eternally planted roots in the soil of Israel, 112 days after the horrific atrocities perpetrated by Hamas and the brutal abduction of hundreds of innocent civilians into the Gaza Strip. The Chairman of the World Zionist Organization participated in this poignant, heart-rending ceremony, which included a program of prayers for the wellbeing and safe return of the hostages, our unity as a people, and victory in our present war of survival.
