Led by clergy members of Washington Hebrew Congregation, dozens of supporters of Israel marched to the Capitol on Sunday to demand a deal between Israel and Hamas, the immediate return of the hostages held in Gaza and an end to the ongoing war.
The March to Bring Them Home is a weekly effort by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum to raise awareness of the 101 people still held captive by Hamas. Dec. 1 marked the organization’s third march, featuring speeches by relatives of hostages.
“The idea of today is to provide a platform for people to speak up, to gather together around this urgent issue and amplify the voices of the families and their loved ones,” Matan Sivek, co-chair of HMFF, said in an interview.
Sivek, who has worked with Washington Hebrew Congregation, contacted the WHC clergy about hosting a march, to which Rabbi Sue Shankman said she and Cantor Susan Bortnick “immediately jumped at the opportunity.”
‘Bring Them Home’
The group gathered near the Smithsonian Metro stop at 1 p.m. and marched together toward the Capitol, chanting “Bring them home” and waving Israeli and American flags. Sivek read hostages’ names to chants of “Now!” after each one.
Shankman emphasized the importance of continuing to advocate for the hostages’ return: “We know that every day counts, every hour, every moment.”
This event comes a day after Hamas released a video of an Israeli-American hostage who has been held captive for more than 420 days.
“Many of us watched the heart-wrenching video released yesterday of Edan Alexander, in which he implores our leaders to not leave him to the same fate as his fellow American Hersh Goldberg-Polin,” Shankman said at the event.
She quoted Alexander’s mother, who said the video of her 20-year-old son is “not a scripted Hollywood movie, [but] the horrific reality we’ve been living since Oct. 7.”
Aviva Siegel, who was freed from Hamas in November 2023, was scheduled to speak at the event, but was unable to attend. She wrote a statement to be read aloud detailing the starvation and pain she and her husband, Keith Siegel — who is still held captive — experienced in Hamas’ tunnels.
“I want to take you with me for a few moments to Gaza,” Aviva Siegel wrote. “We are sitting in a dark room on the floor and it’s already so cold. I look at my Keith lying on a mattress as hard as a rock on the floor. The mattress stinks, filthy without sheets. My Keith is wearing clothes that are too small for him, pressing against his broken ribs.”
She added that as she watched her husband struggle to breathe, she “pray[ed] that [she would] be the first to die” so she wouldn’t have to watch him die.
“It is cruel beyond human comprehension, and I will never understand how everything, absolutely everything, is not being done to bring them home,” Siegel wrote. “If you could see the terror and the mortal fear in their eyes, if you could see how thin, pale, sick, hungry, and sad they are, they would already have been here long ago.”
Antonio de la Serna, a WHC congregant, said he attended the march from Reston, Virginia, because he cares about what’s going on in Gaza.
“Bringing attention to the situation of the hostages is terribly important. Not much is known by Americans of what’s going on,” de la Serna said.
‘End the War’
Attendees called for an end to the war in Gaza, which Boaz Atzili, the relative of a hostage, said is the only method of bringing remaining hostages home safely.
“The time is right now,” Atzili said at the event. “Now is the time to seal the deal and bring them home. And we know that the only deal that can actually bring them home is one that will end the war, including withdrawal of the IDF troops from Gaza.”
Vered Guttman, an Israeli-American Chevy Chase resident, attended the march with UnXeptable D.C., an Israeli grassroots movement supporting a democratic Israel.
“Hostage-holding is a true humanitarian crisis,” Guttman told Washington Jewish Week. “In order to release the hostages, there needs to be a deal between Israel and Hamas. But unfortunately, not only Hamas, but also Israel; the Israeli government has been neglecting to sign such [a] deal.”
Atzili said ending the war will “end the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza. Our goal is the same goal: releasing the hostages and ending the war.”
‘We Are Israel’
Holding back tears after the event, Shankman said the Oct. 7 attacks deeply affected the Jewish community.
“We are Israel,” Shankman said in an interview. “The horrific attacks on Oct. 7 … if it had been just a one-day thing, it still would have been horrible, but it is not over, and it’s important to keep our attention and to keep the world’s attention on what is still happening in an ongoing terrorist event that is 422 days long.”
Bortnick said she and Shankman had visited Israel since Oct. 7, 2023, which amplified the need to advocate for the hostages.
“To see firsthand the kibbutzim, and to see the people and to go to the Nova [festival] site, it really brings alive everything that happened,” Bortnick said. “Also when we continue to witness, not just in Israel, but around the world, scary events that are aimed at Jews … speaking up for Jews everywhere is important today, and this is one way we can do that.”
The crowd joined Bortnick in singing “Oseh Shalom,” a Jewish prayer for peace. In her speech, Shankman said prayer should inspire community members to act.
“I feel it’s important to practice what we preach and to live our Jewish values, and not just to talk about standing up for Israel — standing up for the hostages, speaking up for them — but demonstrating that to our congregants, modeling our Jewish values,” Shankman told Washington Jewish Week.
Shankman said she will continue to show up on the National Mall as often as she can, as the cause is as important as ever.
“You don’t want people to forget that we have signs of life, and we know that there are still hostages who are alive, and until they’re all brought home, we have to keep at it,” Shankman said.
