At a march for the starving captives in Gaza, the media should have highlighted their suffering and the anguish of their families. Instead, they fixated on a fleeting moment – the interruption of two rabbis’ speeches
August 18, 2025 10:50
On Sunday, 10th August, thousands of us marched united for the hostages.
Although the sole focus of the march was to demand the release of the starving hostages, the media failed to cover that, and instead fixated on a fleeting incident in which the speeches by two progressive rabbis were interrupted.
We walked through central London alongside hostages’ families and grieving families. We demanded the immediate release of those still in captivity after 674 days of starvation and torture.
At the vigil, we heard extraordinary speeches from people whose lives have been torn apart.
Ayelet Stavitzky, sister of two brothers murdered by Hamas, Nadav and Roi Popplewell, told the crowd:
“And that is why I am here today, to remind you all that among the victims on the day of 7 October there were 17 British people murdered; and 10 hostages who were taken were themselves either British, like my brother Nadav and Emily Damari, or had very close UK connections, a parent, a spouse or a child.
I am neither a politician nor an army general, I am a human being who can see when there is something horribly wrong in the world: the holding of hostages is a war crime, and to hold them and starve and torture them is horrific.
All the hostages must be returned to their homes, to be reunited with their families or to be properly buried.
I cannot bring Roi or Nadav back to life, but my promise to them, and to everyone who has joined us here today, is that I will not stop until every one of the hostages is home.
And what I ask of you today is that you do not stop either. Keep campaigning. Keep demanding that the British government do more. And please: Keep believing that we will bring them home.”
Adam Ma’anit shared the devastating story of his cousin, Tsachi Idan:
“My cousin, Tsachi, was taken hostage to Gaza after terrorists murdered his first-born daughter, Ma’ayan, in their home on October 7. She had just turned 18. The balloons from her birthday party were still up. They forced Gali, Tsachi’s wife, to unlock her phone so they could livestream the horror, proud of their brutality. It lasted for hours. Clips of Shachar and Yaeli, the surviving children, sobbing and pleading, were among the first images the world saw from that Black Shabbat. They frogmarched Tsachi to Gaza, the blood of his daughter still on him. We fought tooth and nail to bring him home alive. We saw him paraded in Hamas propaganda horrifying videos. We fought.
But our worst fears came true: Tsachi returned to us in a coffin. We buried him next to our beloved Ma’ayan.
You don’t “move on” from this kind of loss. But we don’t have the luxury of self-pity. We pick ourselves up, and we fight: for the 50 hostages still in Gaza…But the world wants to forget hostages. They have slipped from the headlines. The silence deafening.
They are not just hostage to the terrorist ghouls of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. They are hostage to an indifferent world.”
These are the words the world needed to hear. This is the truth our media should have carried to every doorstep. The headlines that week should have been: Release our hostages now
And yet, the Jewish press chose to focus on something else entirely.
Over fifteen articles appeared not about the hostages, not about these families’ courage or their grief, but about one fleeting moment: the interruption of the speeches by two rabbis.
A minute of drama over 674 days of pure agony.
A choice that tells us everything about the editorial priorities at play.
This is not just disappointing, it is a dereliction of moral responsibility. When you have a platform that could amplify the cries of families watching their loved ones waste away in captivity, and you instead amplify an easily packaged controversy, you are complicit in the erasure of what truly matters.
The hostages are starving. They are dying. Every day without action is another day of suffering. If our media cannot keep its focus on that, then we, the community, the readers, the thousands who marched, must demand better.
We marched for the hostages. We will not let you forget it.
And if you can’t keep the hostages in your headlines, you’ve already let them slip from your conscience.
Haya Langerman, an activist, volunteer with the Hostage and Missing Families Forum and one of the organisers of the hostage rally, writes here in a personal capacity
To get more from opinion, click here to sign up for our free Editor's Picks newsletter.
