Bring them home now!
Hundreds rally in Tenafly to mourn brutal deaths and demand a speedy end to the hostage crisis
Several hundred people from communities in and around Tenafly, some draped in Israeli flags, gathered outside Café Angelique in the borough’s town center at 5 p.m. on Sunday to mourn the deaths of Shiri Bibas, her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, and the 84-year-old retired journalist and peace activist Oded Lifshitz, whose mutilated bodies were returned to Israel over the last few days.
The four were taken captive by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and later were murdered by their captors. The most gruesome murders were those of 9-month-old Kfir and his 4-year-old brother Ariel, who had been held by Islamic Jihad terrorists, as was Lifshitz. Forensic examinations showed that their captors killed the boys with their “bare hands,” according to IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari. The evidence also showed that the boys were killed in November 2023, meaning they died about a month after they were kidnapped.
The gathering, jointly sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, the Jewish Community Center of Tenafly, and several other groups, also was held to appeal for the immediate release of all the remaining hostages, including Tenafly native Edan Alexander. (There is a weekly march held every Friday in Tenafly calling for Edan’s release.)
One speaker at the rally was cheered, including by many Israelis in the crowd, when she called on the Israeli government to stop putting up roadblocks to proposals that would end the 15-month-long hostage crisis.
Tenafly Mayor Mark Zinna welcomed the crowd and stressed how important it was “to get together as a community to fight antisemitism everywhere we find it.” He called on everyone to “pray for those we’ve lost … and to pray even more for the ones that we want to bring home and keep them all safe.”
Daniel Herz of Demarest, JFNNJ’s president, followed Mr. Zinna. His opening words expressed what many of those in the crowd also felt. “Shattered, heartbroken, sickened, devastated,” Mr. Herz said. “Anger? No, rage.”
The gathering, he said, was being held because Yarden Bibas, recently released from his captivity and now suffering because of the brutal murders of his wife and two sons, “has called on all of us to let the world know that we are here to mourn Kfir, Ariel, Shiri, Oded, and all of our brothers and sisters stolen from us.
“We are here to demand — demand — the release of Edan and every single hostage suffering in captivity. We refuse to look away. We refuse to be silent. We have refused to allow the world to forget.
“We stand here tonight together, sending our love, our prayers, our energy to the hostages still in captivity,” he continued. “We stand with the families who wake up each morning to unbearable grief, to empty beds, to the nightmare of waiting — waiting for the world to act, waiting for their loved ones to come home.
“And for many of us, that waiting brings a feeling we’re not used to, a feeling we do not often experience: helplessness. We’re a people of action. We solve problems. We take care of our own. And yet, in this moment, as we witness unimaginable cruelty, as we mourn innocent lives barbarically taken from us, as we watch the world remain silent, we feel helpless.”
But, Mr. Herz said, “We are not helpless. We act. We act by supporting Israel in every possible way. We act by calling our Israeli friends, checking in on them, reminding them they are not alone. We act by working together — Israeli, American, religious, secular, affiliated, and unaffiliated. One people, one voice.
“One people, one voice. Amen.”
In addition to several other speakers, prayers were offered by the two rabbis representing Chabad centers in Closter and Tenafly
The gathering ran from 5 to 6. and ended with the singing of the American and Israeli national anthems, the “Star-Spangled Banner” and “Hatikvah.”
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