On Walking a Mile For 136 Hostages Held By Hamas For 100 Days

This morning, I made my way to Harvard Chabad to walk a mile in support of the 136 hostages who remain held in captivity by Hamas for the past 100 days. 

It was a cold, windy January morning. However, all things considered, such conditions pale in comparison to those being endured by the hostages in Gaza who have been deprived of food, water, medication and many of whom have been subject to sexual assault. 

All that was asked of us was to walk from Harvard Chabad, cross the John M. Weeks Bridge into Boston, walk along the Charles and then cross the Anderson Memorial Bridge back into Cambridge and turn onto Memorial Drive to make our way back to Harvard Chabad. This I can do.

And that is what we did. I would guess there was somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 to 500 people who participated. The Cambridge Police kept an eye on things. Fortunately, there was no sign of pro-Hamas hooligans. Unlike the pro-Hamas hooligans, we did not blockade traffic, desecrate the graves of U.S. soldiers or commit manslaughter. 

The theme of the day was the hostages and bringing them home. One of the speakers was Tamar Davis Halper whose cousin Omer Neutra is among the hostages. Neutra, a Long Island native who opted to go to Israel before attending college and instead decided to remain and join the IDF, and how his parents have tirelessly lobbied President Biden as well as within the past few days going to the Israel-Gaza border to shout his name over a loudspeaker in the hopes their son would hear them.

Unfortunately, I think Omer Neutra's parents shouts of his name will be drowned out by those calling for a ceasefire and by pro-Hamas hooligans who blockade traffic, desecrate graves and commit manslaughter. As it stands, there is a spectacle of the Red Cross telling the families of hostages being held by Hamas to think of the Palestinians. 

While I consider it my duty to remind the world that Hamas still hold hostages, I do so with the knowledge that much of the world either doesn't care or is glad Hamas did what it has done and hopes the likes of Omer Neutra dies in captivity. 

Of course, there are honorable exceptions to this rule. Rabbi Marc Baker, the President of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, made a point of praising a mother and son who had come up from Rhode Island to attend the march. Rabbi Baker made a point of saying they are not Jewish while conveying the reason they came was because they told him that Jews cannot fight anti-Semitism alone. 

Indeed, it is incumbent upon both Jews and non-Jews to speak out and continue speaking out until every single hostage, Jew and non-Jew alike, is back home and alive to tell us who they survived evil.