Chen Zeigen, Harel Lapidot, Alexandra Friedman and Itay Raviv (right) listen to Aharon Brodutch as he speaks about a family member who was taken hostage by Hamas, Monday, October 30, 2023 in Ottawa.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Family members of people who were abducted by Hamas flew to Ottawa on Monday to meet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and make heartfelt pleas for greater efforts to free their loved ones.
Among them was Aharon Brodutch, who lives in Toronto. At a news conference after the meeting with Mr. Trudeau, he held up photos of his sister-in-law Hagar and her children, 10-year-old Ofry, eight-year-old Yuval and four-year-old Oria. All four were abducted by Hamas fighters after the militant group attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7. They are believed to be among some 240 hostages now being held in the Gaza Strip.
Mr. Brodutch, a Canadian-Israeli quantum physicist, said he has heard nothing so far of their fate, and that the Israeli government should make freeing the hostages “the only priority.”
He said the family was about to celebrate his niece Ofry’s birthday when Hagar and the children were taken. His brother, the young girl’s father, who was not abducted, now sits and plays a guitar he bought her as a birthday gift while he waits for news, Mr. Brodutch added.
“The soldiers who cleared the house talked to my brother and told him that when they opened the fridge they saw birthday cake, and they all started crying,” Mr. Brodutch said.
Mr. Brodutch said the Prime Minister, during the meeting, had shown empathy and understanding, and had expressed concern about a spike in antisemitism since the war between Hamas and Israel began.
“The PM clearly understands the need to release the hostages and the need to do it quickly,” he said.
Other family members told the news conference that several seniors abducted from kibbutzim, or co-operative communities, were peace activists.
Itay Raviv described learning that his great uncle and aunt, Avraham and Rute Munder, both 78, were abducted along with their daughter, 54-year-old Keren Munder, and her son, nine-year-old Ohad Munder Zichri, who were visiting for the weekend. Avraham and Rute’s son was killed in the attack.
“We don’t know what their condition is, whether they are alive or not. My uncle is an old person who can barely walk. He uses a cane, he needs to take medicine. His vision isn’t great,” Mr. Raviv said. “My uncle and aunt Avraham and Rute are peace activists. They’ve been participating in so many peace programs. They used to take sick children and people from Gaza into hospitals inside Israel.”
Chen Zeigen said his mother Vivian Silver, 74, who was abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri, had “dedicated her life to peace and peace-building, and to garner understanding between Israelis and Palestinians and to fight for equality between Israeli and Arab citizens of Israel.”
Marsha Lederman: The cultural world is being ruptured by the Israel-Hamas war
Israel-Hamas war: Maps and graphics that show how the conflict is unfolding
Ms. Silver was raised in Winnipeg and moved to Israel in 1974. Mr. Zeigen said she “was among the people who volunteered to drive sick Palestinian children from Gaza to get treatment in hospitals in Israel.”
“Many of her friends volunteering on the same program were murdered on the kibbutz,” he said.
“We hope that the Canadian government will join the international efforts to pressure and promote the release or conditional release of all these hostages.”
“Hamas is trying to frame the hostages as prisoners of war,” he added. “But these are babies and toddlers and women and elderly people taken from their homes.”
At a separate news conference in Ottawa on Monday, organized by the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council, a multifaith coalition called for an immediate ceasefire in the war. Muslim, Christian and Jewish representatives stressed the importance of protecting civilians and getting humanitarian aid to Gaza, which is now under ground assault by Israel after weeks of siege and aerial bombardment.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said Monday that as many as 400 Canadians are believed to be “trapped” in Gaza and “living in fear and despair.”
She called on Israel, in a speech at the Economic Club in Toronto, to temper its bombardment of Gaza and allow for pauses in the war so sustained humanitarian aid can reach beleaguered Palestinian civilians.
The relatives of the hostages said they were being kept informed by an Israeli task force. They said Jews, Muslims and people of other religions were among those killed by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Harel Lapidot, who was born in Regina, told the family members’ news conference that his niece Tiferet Lapidot, 22, was among the 260 people Hamas fighters killed at a music festival near Gaza.
“It took more than 11 days to identify her body. We thought she was kidnapped because her cellphone was even stolen,” he said. When her body was found, “parts of it were missing” he said.
“My Tiferet, my baby, was just dancing in a peace party,” he said. “She never went in the army. She never held a gun. She knew nothing about politics.”