Today’s suggested actions to support Israel in your local community:

• Learn about the latest updates on aid to Israel, the significant congressional developments of the past week, and the adoption of the IHRA definition to protect communities and colleges so that you can be an effective advocate. Register for this special briefing for advocacy leaders on February 9 at 12 ET.
• Read this Ynet article examining the history of Hamas’s extensive tunnel system and the IDF strategy in maneuvering this complex network.
• Share this social media clip on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook calling for the immediate release of all the hostages being held by Hamas.
• Raise awareness for the remaining hostages by printing these signs with their faces and stories.  
• Listen to and share the music of 26-year-old Shaul Greenglick, a talented singer from Ra’anana who auditioned on “The Next Star” to represent Israel at the Eurovision competition just weeks before he was killed while fighting Hamas. Greenglick, who comes from a family of talented musicians, dropped out of the competition due to his military duties. This week, his siblings performed a song in his memory on the season finale of the show.

Issue:
There are 136 hostages still being held captive by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Hostages that have been released are sharing harrowing details of inhumane treatment and physical and psychological abuse. According to a report in the New York Times, Israel believes that 32 of the remaining 136 hostages have been killed. Below are stories of some of the hostages that are still being held in captivity, 125 days on:

Background:

• Daniel Perez was last seen and heard from on the morning of October 7. The 22-year-old resident of the community of Yad Binyamin in central Israel is the son of Rabbi Doron Perez, the head of the World Mizrachi movement. Daniel is an active runner, athlete and ardent supporter of the Liverpool soccer team. His family has organized a weekly run where supporters show their solidarity with the family and urge for Daniel’s release.
• Amiram Cooper, an 85-year-old grandfather of nine, is one of the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz. His wife Nurit was one of the first hostages released in a deal. He is a poet and composer and is described as a lover of peace and a man of ideas. On the 25th anniversary of the kibbutz’s founding in 1980 he composed a poem entitled Love Song.
• Kaid Farhan Elkadi lives in a Bedouin community in southern Israel. On the morning of October 7 he was abducted from Kibbutz Magen where he was guarding a packaging facility. The 53-year-old is married and is the father of 11 children.
• Edan Alexander is a 19-year-old lone soldier who was born in Tel Aviv but grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey. After high school he returned to Israel to join the Golani Brigade of the IDF. He is a swimmer and loves Thai and Japanese foods. His mother says that he is “a great all-American kid." He had plans to attend college in the United States and study business.
• Noa Argamani is a dual Israeli and Chinese citizen who was kidnapped while attending the Supernova music festival with her boyfriend Avinatan Or, who was also taken captive. She is a student at Ben Gurion University. A video taken in the immediate aftermath of her kidnapping has been widely circulated and shows Noa yelling, “Don’t Kill Me!” Noa’s mother Liora is suffering from terminal brain cancer and has pleaded to allow for her daughter’s release. She wrote to President Biden in December saying, “I am terminally ill with stage 4 brain cancer. All that’s running through my mind before I part ways with my family forever is the chance to hug my daughter, my only child, one last time.”
• Alex Danzig (Dancyg) is a 75-year-old father and grandfather. Born in Warsaw after the Holocaust, he is a dual citizen of Poland and Israel. He was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. A Holocaust scholar and historian at Yad Vashem, he has won awards from the government of Poland for his educational work bringing together Israeli and Polish children to learn about the Holocaust. A campaign called “StandwithAlex” calling attention to his captivity has been spray-painted in public spaces in Warsaw. Danzig requires medication for a heart condition for which he had surgery several years ago.
• Doron Steinbrecher is a 30-year-old veterinary nurse who was kidnapped from her apartment in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. At 10:30 in the morning of October 7 she sent a message to friends saying, “They’ve arrived. They have me.” Doron has a wide smile that radiates warmth and love. She requires daily medication.
• Orión Hernández Radoux is a 31-year-old Mexican and French citizen who was attending the music festival with his girlfriend Shani Louk, who was later found dead. He was in Israel as a tourist at the time he was taken captive. He is described as “a man of music and festivals, love and family, adventure and peace.” He is the father of a young girl who is eagerly awaiting her father’s return.

Community Spotlight

After months of quiet diplomacy led by the Jewish Federation of Greater Raleigh, Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin announced that the council would not be voting on a proposed ceasefire resolution that had sharply divided the city. The mayor read a statement praising the diversity of Raleigh and its opposition to antisemitism and Islamophobia. The Raleigh Federation praised Mayor Baldwin, thanking “all of the Jewish community leaders, rabbis, and volunteers, including the many local Israelis, who spent the last several weeks speaking up and sitting in the gallery at Raleigh City Council meetings, sending emails, making phone calls, spreading the word about how to get involved, and advocating against the Raleigh City Council passing a one-sided ceasefire resolution against Israel.”

Submit a community initiative here that you would like to highlight for our system.

Additional Resources

Click here to access Jewish Federations’ toolkit on the War in Israel, which links to the Community Mobilization Resource Hub to help you speak up for Israel.

Click here for guidance on responding to anti-Israel resolutions proposed by city councils.  

The Community Mobilization Center is monitoring major developments in Israel and North America related to Israel’s war against Hamas. The Community Mobilization Center will rapidly disseminate resources to help mobilize and support our local communities as they build and sustain civic and political support for Israel in this conflict. The work of the Community Mobilization Center will continue as long as it takes Israel to eradicate the terrorist threat and restore security to the country.

The Community Mobilization Center is at your service. Click here to send us an email.

Click here to sign up for the Dispatch