The heartbreaking video of a frail Israeli hostage being forced to dig his own grave, released last weekend on various social media platforms, sparked immediate, horrified reactions from Jewish leaders and New Yorkers of all backgrounds across the city.
Hamas — the terrorists behind the Oct. 7, 2023 attack in Israel that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza — released the graphic video of an emaciated Evyatar David, an Israeli hostage, digs mounds of dirt in what appears to be a dark, narrow tunnel.
“What I’m doing now is digging my own grave,” he faintly says in the video, which appeared in the Times of Israel with English subtitles.
David is one of the original 251 Israelis and foreign nationals abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023; the terrorists also killed 1,200 people that day. Since then, most of the hostages have been released alive, while the bodies of others were repatriated to Israel.
Reports say around 50 hostages remain in Hamas’ clutches in Gaza. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed so far during the brutal, 21-month conflict.
The video served to reignite anger, anguish and grief from New Yorkers concerned about the remaining people being held captive by the terror group and the ongoing conflict
From bustling Midtown Manhattan to the quiet enclaves of Staten Island, the images have ignited a new wave of grief and outrage, among both Jewish leaders and many others.
Gavriel Sanders, a spokesperson for the Be a Mensch Foundation, an organization that aims to unite polarized factions in Israel, was horrified by the video.
“This horrific video released by Hamas shows exactly who they are—a terrorist organization that does not want this war to end,” he said. “They starve our hostages, including four Americans, for political gain while simultaneously starving the Gazan populace. Despite the ‘myth-perceptions’ circulating around the world, Hamas uses human beings as pawns for propaganda against Israel.”
Hamas ‘wants to inflict pain on the Jewish conscience’
Sanders’ point of view is that the terror group is trying to attain “global sympathy” from people across the world who blame Israel for the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“Hamas wants to inflict pain on the Jewish conscience while garnering victimhood and global sympathy for themselves,” he said. “This war can end tomorrow. Release the hostages and let us bury our dead.”
Meanwhile, the video is under an enormous spotlight in Times Square, where the Israeli Consulate of New York launched a digital billboard campaign to show how David is suffering in captivity.
Ambassador Ofir Akunis, Consul General of Israel in New York, did not mince words when describing the content of the video, now displayed in the Crossroads of the World for New Yorkers and tourists to see.
“This is what real hunger looks like. This is what truth looks like,” Akunis said. “Evyatar David is being starved by a Nazi terrorist organization that dares, with the backing of parts of the media, to spread the blood libel that Israel is starving the people of Gaza. “We will continue to expose, everywhere and at all times, the lies of these vile terrorists and their collaborators.”
Rabbis and community leaders have been hearing from distraught congregants, friends and family about the video.
Rabbi Gerald Sussman of Temple Emanu-El in Staten Island described the video as “not surprising,” given that Hamas is a terrorist group.
“The video is not surprising,” he said. “People forget that Hamas is a terrorist organization. What is their goal? They’re not shy about stating it. Their goal is that the state of Israel should be destroyed.”
He added that Hamas “disregards” life.
“Their stated goal is genocide, and their method is often cruelty and disregard for the lives of the Jewish population, and disregard, also, for the lives of the Gazans,” Sussman said.
The rabbi’s wife, Bonnie, said seeing the Hamas-released video was “painful” and reminded her of what the Jews in occupied Europe endured under the Nazi regime during World War II.
“It was painful. It’s ugly,” she said. “It was reminiscent of the Nazis, who made Jews dig their own pits before getting shot into the pits. It was a common Nazi practice.”
Throughout the Big Apple’s neighborhoods, New Yorkers told amNewYork what they felt when they saw David’s harrowing video.
“It needs to be posted everywhere and seen by all. Deliberate starving and torture. Digging his own grave, can’t stand straight in the tunnel,” said Efrat Yellin of the Upper West Side. “Where is the outrage?”
Ilana French of Staten Island recalled learning about the Holocaust as a youngster. She questioned how such atrocities, including the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks in Israel, can occur.
“Today, quite honestly, since Oct. 7, these images are haunting and the question remains, how is the world allowing this to happen? But this is worse,” she said. “Nazis hid these atrocities, Hamas is proudly displaying their atrocities and the world. The world is watching it happen and, in turn, attacking Jewish people in America.”
