Ruminations: Toronto Rally for Israeli Hostages

"On October 7, at the Nova Festival, in the kibbutz [Hamas] was raping, mutilating and destroying the souls and bodies of women, elderly and men and they're still doing that."
"It's not a one-time rape or a one-time lesson. It's happening now, as we speak."
"The [hostages] that have returned, they tell their stories of the women that are still left behind and people are still not willing to accept it ... People are walking like horses [with blinders on ...]."
"They prefer to close their eyes and continue to be bystanders without understanding that it's happening now."
Maayan Shavit, Toronto rally for Israeli hostages

Carmel Gat was taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 from her parents' home in Kibbutz Be'eri (Courtesy)

This is 39-year-old Carmel Gat's cousin speaking to a crowd of onlookers and supporters. She was captured by Hamas terrorists running rampant through the kibbutz where her parents and other family members lived, in southern Israel. An occupation therapist by vocation and by avocation a yoga practitioner from Tel Aviv, she happened to be close by the border with Gaza when the Hamas attack took place. Her mother was murdered and she was kidnapped.

While her brother and her niece escaped, her sister-in-law was taken, among other hostages. When a pause in fighting took place after prisoner-exchange negotiations in November, her sister-in-law was released, among other women and children and the elderly. Among the released hostages were a number who had interacted with the missing Carmel Gat. They related that she is being held among children held as hostages. She used her skills in yoga to teach them to practise it daily, in an effort to calm their spirits.

Naama Levy was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. (Courtesy)

At the Toronto rally there were fourteen women, each representing those 14 Israeli women remaining in captivity, held by Hamas. Canadians for Israel who had arranged the rally orchestrated the fourteen women in a tableau resembling in part the situation of the Israeli hostages. Each of the fourteen simulated the hostages' condition; their hands bound, a cloth mouth-gag and bloodied sweatpants reflecting the horrors seen in a video that showed 19-year-old Naama Levy, bound, gagged, bloodied sweatpants ushered into a vehicle by a Hamas terrorist.

Naama Levy, seen in a video shortly after she was taken hostage to Gaza on October 7, 2023. (Screen grab/X)

Heart-shaped cards with pictures of a hostage on one side, and on the reverse the message: "Our hearts are broken, read their stories", were handed out to onlookers and passersby. "Bring them home NOW!" completed the message. There is a QR code detailing all the hostages remaining in Hamas' custody, linked to a Times of Israel article. Stapled to the back of the card another QR code links to a document with contact information for Members of Parliament from the Toronto Area as well as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly and Minister of Women, Marci Ien.

"The only thing that is going to help is if people call out, speak to their government officials, and at the government level, urge them to speak out."
"Because they have to pressure the international community and they have to say to Hamas, 'Release the hostages'."
"We don't hear [them] doing enough on any level, anything that we've heard from the Canadian government feels like lip service, it feels like a minimum to fulfill some basic requirement."
Daphna Pollak, Toronto Rally for Israel organizer