By Joel Goldenberg
Numerous Montrealers marched from Hampstead Park to the Ben Weider Jewish Community Centre in Snowdon, demanding the immediate release of hostages held since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the terrorist group Hamas in which 1,400 people were murdered.The walk was part of the global effort Run For Their Lives to help the 136 hostages still being held in Gaza.
The New York Times reported Feb. 6 that Israeli intelligence concluded 32 of the 136 have died, but to Jews, a body is sacrosanct and requires a proper burial, and thus those who died are still considered hostages.
One of those participating was Eric Hazan, second cousin of hostage Omer Shem Tov, who turned 21 during his captivity. “It’s really important that people don’t forget that we still have hostages being held in Gaza and these are innocent people who need to come back home,” Hazan told The Suburban. “The families are anxious to have them come back, they are devastated. The whole nation is devastated. Millions of Jews around the world are devastated by all this.”
At the Y, the names of the remaining hostages were read, and songs were sung. Ysabella Hazan, who spoke at pro-Israel rallies at Concordia late last year and in Washington, D.C., told attendees at Kellert Hall at the Y that she saw the 43-minute film of the Oct. 7 massacre that journalists have been invited to see. After seeing that, “I don’t even want to think about the condition of the hostages. I don’t want to know what Hamas is doing on their own territory. This [conflict] is as much an ideological war as a physical war waged against us.We have to keep our spirits very high in honour of the hostages, and we have to be united.”
Hazan added that we have to, “encourage students to go on campus and to have rallies like this one! It’s amazing that we have this rally in the community centre, as we should, but where’s the youth? We need to be empowered also!”
She also said those rallying in Canada “are here to show the world that we are one collective soul. As long as they are held hostage, we are held hostage! Our souls are held hostage! Our hearts are in Gaza until they are free! We are going to fight for Jewish rights! We are not going to allow people to call our hostages colonizers! We are Jews! We are not colonizers from the land that we are from!”
Also on hand were Snowdon councillor Sonny Moroz, Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather and CSL councillor Dida Berku, amongst many others.
“I’ve heard from relatives, I’ve heard from Montrealers and from my residents, not just from the Jewish community, who are in solidarity with those who were taken from their homes and want them returned,” Moroz told The Suburban. “For me, it’s a moral clarity issue. We need to resolve this open wound, not just impacting local Jews in Montreal, but Jews around the world.”
Housefather told The Suburban that with the hostages being held for more than 100 days, “it’s really important for our local community to show our support for them.
“I do my own part by being here too and joining my fellow citizens.” n