Hostage families to CNN's Jake Tapper: Oscar ceasefire pins remind us of Ramallah lynching

In an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN on Tuesday, Moshe Levi, brother-in-law of Gaza hostage Omri Meran, said, “We cannot normalize hostage taking, we cannot normalize terrorist action as committed by Hamas on October 7,” while commenting on the ceasefire pins celebrities wore at the Oscars. Moshe Levi’s sister and Omri Meran have two daughters.

He continued, “Yesterday we saw the Oscars, we saw people wearing a pin that, for us Israelis, reminds us of the lynch in Ramallah in the Second Intifada. At the same time, I want them to wear this. If you support a ceasefire, you need to support the return of the hostages. If you support the humanitarian cause of the Palestinians, you need to support the humanitarian cause of the hostages…My call to the American public: Unite behind us.

If you unite behind the families of the hostages, I can promise you that we can start seeing an end to this. Narrow the focus, focus on the hostages and negotiating solely on that. After that we have so many decades to finish this conflict and finally live in coexistence with our neighbors. But we will not be able to live with them in coexistence as long as hostages are still there and as long as radical elements like Hamas who are emboldened by people like those who were wearing those pins yesterday, are still in power in Gaza.”

Tapper hosted six family members of hostages still held in Gaza. The family members discussed their family members who remain in Gaza, America's response to the crisis, as well as the ongoing hostage negotiations. 

Hostage families speak on their relatives

Daniel Lifshitz, who’s grandfather Oded Lifshitz still remains a hostage in Gaza, after his grandmother was returned, said that he sees America’s recent push to get the hostages back as a positive development. 

Lifshitz mentioned, while speaking about the hostage crisis, that his and other families had been “ripped” apart. He mentioned the names of several families who have had one family member returned, while another still remains in Gaza. He brought up the Trupanov family, in which the mother and the grandmother came back and the grandchild is still there, as well as the Katzir family.

Oriya Yahbess, cousin of hostage Yarden Bibas said, “I always have hope because we have nothing else to grab for." Her cousin, his wife Shiri, and their two children, one four years old, and the other one years old, remain in Gaza. 

Tapper reported that 130 hostages are still held in Gaza, 99 of whom are alive, according to Israeli reports.