“We want them back!” That was the rallying cry for a million people across Israel today, who stopped their lives to stand with the families of the 50 hostages still held captive in Gaza.
They’re the forgotten part of the story in the daily news coverage of Gaza. A war that the media is helping to prolong as it turns a blind eye to Hamas’ crimes and parrots its propaganda.
HonestReporting was at Hostage Square to hear from the families and help amplify their voices that are ignored by the media. We spoke with Ruby Chen, whose son Itay was murdered on October 7. For 22 months, he has been unable to bury his son and begin to mourn. He demands justice for all the hostages, and asks why the American media has turned a blind eye to the 47 American citizens who were kidnapped that day. HonestReporting feels compelled to tell their stories, as the mainstream media continues to forget them.
HonestReporting faced questions about its decision to highlight the people’s strike, we felt that a nationwide demonstration of solidarity was important to share. While there is overlap between the political protests and the rallies at Hostage’s Square, they are not one and the same, even if the media presents it that way. The media only turns the cameras on when they can frame the rallies as being anti-government, but the issue of hostages is not inherently political. Former hostage Eli Sharabi said it best himself, “The issue of hostages is not left or right, it’s straight down the middle.”
The media covers Gaza every day, and yet it chooses to ignore Hamas and turn a blind eye to its crimes against humanity. The one-sided coverage allows the torture to continue. We believe the onus is on the media to shine a light on Hamas’ crimes and for the international community to put pressure on the terrorists to release all of the hostages unconditionally. Even if the nuance is lost in the noise, we will continue to make our point: the media is prolonging the war by parroting Hamas propaganda, and we need to call it out.
We stand with the families whose lives have been put on hold for over 680 days, waiting in anguish for their loved ones to come home. Our demand is for Hamas to release all of the hostages, unconditionally, immediately.
