When President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union speech on Thursday, the viewers will embody 17 kin of People held captive or murdered by Hamas terrorists in Israel.
An inventory printed Monday by the Households of the American Hostages in Gaza coalition named kin of six hostages nonetheless held captive, two launched captives and two hostages who had been killed.
The members of the family will probably be friends on Thursday night of a bipartisan slate of members of the US Home of Representatives and the US Senate. Among the many hosts are the speaker, Louisiana Republican Rep, Mike Johnson, and the minority chief, New York Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.
Hamas, which launched the conflict on Oct. 7 when it raided Israel, killing greater than 1,200 individuals and abducting greater than 250, is believed to nonetheless be holding greater than 130 hostages, amongst them six to eight People. Dozens of them are considered useless.
The six hostages believed to nonetheless be alive and in captivity who will probably be represented are Edan Alexander, Itai Chen, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Omer Neutra, Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Keith Siegel. The 2 launched hostages who will probably be represented are Liat Atzili and Abigail Mor Edan, who turned 4 in captivity earlier than being launched throughout a truce in November. The 2 murdered hostages who will probably be represented are Judy Weinstein and Gad Haggai.
The group mentioned it urged Congress members in a letter to “present solidarity and a agency dedication to securing the swift and whole launch of the hostages by sporting yellow ribbons and canine tags” through the State of the Union. Yellow ribbons and canine tags which have turn out to be an emblem of solidarity with the hostages had been included within the letters.
Carry them residence now
Households of the hostages have met with prime officers, together with Biden, and have joined vigils calling for his or her launch in Washington and in different main cities.
“The households additionally thanked Congress and the Biden administration for persevering with to do every thing doable to finish the hostage disaster and produce their family members residence,” the discharge mentioned.
The Jewish Telegraphic Company confirmed the record with quite a few congressional workplaces listed.
New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a Jewish Democrat, will probably be internet hosting Jonathan Dekel-Chen and Adi Alexander.
“I’m honored to have Adi from my district and Jonathan attend the State of the Union as my friends,” Gottheimer mentioned in a press release to JTA. “Their presence is a robust reminder that People, together with Adi’s son Edan and Jonathan’s son Sagui, are nonetheless being held hostage at palms of Hamas terrorists. It’s been 150 days since they had been captured. Nothing is extra vital than getting them residence now. Interval.”
Greater than 100 of the hostages had been exchanged for Palestinian detainees throughout a break within the preventing in November. The Biden administration is pushing negotiations for a second non permanent ceasefire to commerce among the remaining hostages for extra prisoners.
Israel has agreed to the phrases broadly however needs an accounting of which of the remaining hostages are alive or useless. Hamas has mentioned it doesn’t have the means for such an accounting, partly as a result of among the hostages had been taken by or offered to different terror teams and prison gangs.
