02/07/2025
JFNA Lion of Judah Conference Shares Stories of Families of Hostages
Erika Rudin-Luria, right, president of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, moderates a panel discussion with a released hostage and families of hostages on Jan. 13 at the 2025 International Lion of Judah Conference in Atlanta. Submitted photo / Jewish Federations of North America / Ralph Alswang
ABIGAIL PREISZIG | CJN
Article reprinted with permission from Cleveland Jewish News
With news of an impending hostage deal looming overhead, Aviva Siegel, a released hostage and wife of then-hostage Keith Siegel, and Yarden Gonen, sister of then-hostage Romi Gonen, spoke at the 2025 Lion of Judah Conference from Jan. 12 through Jan. 14 in Atlanta to advocate for their loved ones.
“Aviva and Yarden were just praying that someone would tap on their shoulder and tell them that they needed to get on a plane to go home, that their family members were going to be released, and then a few days later someone did,” Erika Rudin-Luria, president of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, told the Cleveland Jewish News on Jan. 27. Rudin-Luria moderated a panel discussion on the second evening of the conference, held by the Jewish Federations of North America. “They cut their trip short, they flew home early because of hearing that Romi and Keith were on the list.”
Siegel and Gonen were released amid the ceasefire deal, on Feb. 1 and Jan. 19, respectively.
The panel discussion featured Siegel, Gonen and other family members of hostages taken during the Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack on Israel by Hamas, including Maya Roman, cousin of Yarden Roman-Gat – released in November 2023 as part of a temporary ceasefire deal – and relative of Carmel Gat, who died in captivity, and Jon Polin, father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin who died in captivity.
Through conversation and firsthand accounts of captivity, the panelists’ main message was to bring the hostages home now, Rudin-Luria said. They made it clear nothing was about politics, it was about humanity, and a deal that brought home the hostages was the right deal.
“We need to pressure whoever it is that’s necessary for all hostages to come home,” she said. “That was the message. We need our family home. No recovery can begin in Israel until every last hostage is home.”
Another key takeaway was understanding the obligation of Rudin-Luria and the 1,000 women who attended the session to advocate for, listen to and repeat the stories of the hostages and their families, she said.
“The families feel so isolated, it’s so important that they know that we want to hear them, that we’re going to repeat their stories, that we’re going to advocate, that we’re not leaving them,” Rudin-Luria said. “That is what I worked to convey in the panel and in my private conversations with them.”
Rudin-Luria said she was amazed by their resilience.
“Despite hearing horrific things on a constant basis, because the families know far more than what’s public about what’s going on, they keep going and they keep advocating and they’ll talk to anyone,” she said. “I’ve never met people as strong as them.”
American-Israeli Keith Siegel, 65, was released on Feb. 1 alongside Yarden Bibas, 35, the father of the two youngest hostages in Gaza, and French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon, 54, in exchange for 183 Palestinian prisoners, The Associated Press reported. They were taken from their kibbutzim on Oct. 7.
Twenty-three more hostages are expected to be released in the first phase of a six-week ceasefire deal that went into effect on Jan. 19,
along with hundreds more Palestinian prisoners, The AP reported. The next exchange is Feb. 8.
Four Israeli soldiers, Karina Ariev, 20, Daniella Gilboa, 20, Naama Levy, 20, and Liri Albag, 19, were released on Jan. 25 in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners, The AP reported. They were taken from Nahal Oz base near the border with Gaza when Hamas overran it, killing more than 60 soldiers.
Romi Gonen, 24, who was abducted from the Nova music festival, was released alongside Emily Damari, 28, a British-Israeli citizen who was abducted from her apartment on Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, Damari’s neighbor in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, on Jan. 19 in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners, the CJN previously reported. They were the first three Israeli hostages of 33 captives expected to be freed during the deal.
The Times of Israel reported Damari asked her captors to first free Keith Siegel.
The ceasefire’s second phase calls for the release of remaining hostages and an indefinite extension of the truce in the deadliest and most destructive war ever between Israel and Hamas, The AP reported. The fighting could resume in early March if an agreement isn’t reached.
The Oct. 7 attack killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 others hostage. Over 100 were freed in a weeklong truce the following month, The AP reported. Around 80 hostages remain in Gaza, although at least a third are believed to be dead. The others were released, rescued, or their bodies were recovered.
To view videos from the conference, visit lionconference.org.
