Celebrating liberty
Hamas kidnapped 22-year-old Alon Ohel from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, and released him, injured but alive, 737 days later.
Ohel is a pianist; when he was in captivity, because of him, Israelis used pianos to represent the hostages.
On the Fourth of July, Ohel played piano on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz as part of the nation’s celebration of 250 years of freedom. His brother Ronen and the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Mike Waltz, joined him on the ship.
John Ondrasik, a singer-songwriter who goes by the stage name Five for Fighting, sang his post-9/11 hit “Superman” as Ohel accompanied him on piano. Ondrasik revamped the ballad in Ohel’s honor in April 2025, when Ohel was still in captivity in Gaza.
The anguished superhero of the original sings about “a home I’ll never see,” but now, the revamped version’s protagonist hails “a home I will soon see.”