Thirteen influential voices speak out in a tribute to the 13 women held prisoner by Hamas for 365 days.
Marking the one-year anniversary of Israel's deadliest day since the Holocaust, October 7, when around 1,200 people were killed and around 250 others were taken hostage by the terrorist group, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum brought together 13 recognizable activists to speak about women who remain hostages in the ongoing war between Israel and Gaza.
Posted on its social channels with the #BringThemHomeNow movement, the coalition formed after the October 7, 2023 attack shared the video and tagged each participant. (The Hollywood journalist also contacted the forum. Watch the video here.)
“13 women were held captive for 365 days. 13 powerful voices joined us in speaking out about each of the women held hostage,” the post read, as participants read their names and shared their stories.
The activists in the video are Bravo producer/host Andy Cohen; actresses Ginnifer Goodwin, Mayim Bialik, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Patricia Heaton and Debra Messing; Saturday night live comedian Chloe Fineman; artist Zoe Buckman; stylist Rebecca Minkoff; Iranian Princess Noor Pahlavi; and influencers Emily Austin, Adela Cojab Moadeb and Baby Ariel.
The 13 women remaining hostage are Romi Gonen, 24 years old; Naama Levy, 20; Liri Albag, 19 years old; Ofra Keider, 70; Shiri Bibas, 33; Inbar Hayman, 27; Emily Damari, 27; Karina Ariev, 20; Agam Berger, 20; Doron Steinbrecher, 31; Arbel Yehoud, 29; Daniella Gilboa, 20; and Judy Weinstein Haggai, 70.
The video follows several movements organized by Hollywood voices calling for the return of the 101 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas, as well as the release of We will dance againParamount+'s harrowing Nova festival massacre documentary that recently reunited several hostage families at its premiere. Most recently, 62 artists and performers – from television, film, fashion, reality and social media – signed their names to a letter directed to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris calling for “sustainable peace in the Middle East and recognizing[ing] that the essential first step towards that peace is for Hamas to return the 101 remaining hostages.”
Among the hostages are seven Americans; Four of these hostages are presumed alive and three were murdered, according to the American Jewish Committee. Six Israeli hostages, including American Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, were recently killed by Hamas shortly before the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) recovered their bodies in a Hamas-run tunnel under the city of Rafah.
Both Biden and Harris released statements marking Monday's anniversary. “I will never forget the horror of October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists brutally attacked Israel,” Harris wrote. In his full statement, posted on social media, he named the American hostages Omer Neutra, 22; Edan Alexander, 20; Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36; Keith Siegel, 65, Gadi Haggai, 73; Itay Chen, 19; and Weinstein Haggai, 70, (mentioned above), saying, “I will never stop fighting for the release of all hostages, including the seven American citizens, living and deceased, still held.” Adding: “My commitment to Israel is unwavering.”
In his full statement, Biden said, “We will never surrender until we bring all remaining hostages home safely.” He also “strongly condemned the vicious wave of anti-Semitism in America and around the world” while recalling the “unspeakable brutality” of the October 7 attack. “We will not stop working to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza that brings the hostages home, allows for increased humanitarian aid to alleviate suffering on the ground, ensures Israel's security and puts an end to this war,” he wrote .
Israel's retaliatory war in Gaza has left a death toll of more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.