On Sunday, Oct. 22, dozens of Forest Hills residents showed up to MacDonald Park on Queens Boulevard to shine light on the hostages who were taken during the Oct 7. attack on Israel.
According to the Kidnapped from Israel project, close to 200 civilians ranging from 3 months old to 85 years old were abducted by Hamas militants and taken hostage into Gaza where they still remain. Many were kidnapped from their homes, others from a music festival and some from public spaces. The first two Israeli hostages were released by Hamas on Oct. 23.
“Let us be the light. Let us keep on going,” Forest Hills community advocate Ethan Felder said at the rally. “We’re resilient people. We’ve been through tragedy before and we’re still here. We’re gonna make it through this.”
Residents bearing Israeli flags, and faith leaders for nearby synagogues, called for the immediate release of hostages. Several rabbis addressed the crowd of dozens of local residents and expressed solidarity with the victims. But there were also many others not in attendance, living in the nearby communities, that felt extra sympathetic to Israel due to their personal ties to the region.
Rabbi Daniel Grabber, who sang a song at the gathering, also shared that one of his former campers when he was a counselor at United Synagogue Youth is currently believed to be one of the hostages.
Omer Neutra, a 23-year-old Israeli-American who was born and raised on Long Island, voluntarily enlisted in the Israeli Defense Forces and delayed his acceptance to Binghamton University to study in Israel. He was serving from a base camp near Gaza when he was taken hostage.
“He’s a sweet kid. He is the type of person who walks into a room and everybody smiles. It breaks my heart to know that having gone to Israel, full of conviction and love for Israel and the Jewish people, that he is currently being held as a captive in Gaza,” said Rabbi Grabber of Forest Hills Jewish Center at Saturday’s…
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