“Bring them home now”: demonstration in Rome for the Israeli hostages of Hamas

“Bring them home now, right away.” Loudly rose the cry of the two thousand demonstrators who today in Largo Argentina asked the Israeli government and the international community for the return of the Israeli hostages kidnapped on October 7 by Hamas and still held prisoner in the Gaza tunnels. A very popular, moving demonstration, at times harsh and certainly full of pain and anger: it was organized by the Hostages’ Families Forum led by Benedetto Sacerdoti and from Run for their Lives Rome to ask the Israeli government to bring the hostages home and sign an agreement to achieve peace and security in the state of Israel.

“To get there we need to eliminate Hamas, the war is against Hamas terrorists and not against the civilian population,” he explains Luca Spizzichino, president of the Union of Young Italian Jews. After six in the afternoon the crowd swells, the demonstration begins amidst Israeli flags and photos of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October: the same demonstration is held at the same time in other cities around the world such as New York, Dusseldorf, London, Sydney, all united by a single red thread, bring back the hostages and achieve peace.

Almost 8 months have passed since that tragic 7 October, when Hamas caused 1200 civilian victims and kidnapped 245 hostages between the kibbutzim of southern and northern Israel and from a party of young people. At least 125 are still in Hamas hands. A trauma for the Israeli people. The message from Largo Argentina is clear: all civilian deaths are deplorable but Hamas and the civilian victims of a conflict that has continued to reap death, hatred and revenge cannot be put on the same level. “First give us back the hostages and then we sign the peace”, they explain Ariel Harbibi And Ever Giurgiuli, among the crowd in Largo Argentina. “October 7th is an open wound but it is not comparable to the Holocaust and those who do it risk diminishing the Shoah – explains Harbibi – but October 7th is an equally hateful trauma because there is nothing worse than the kidnapping done by those who hates and attacks civilians.” Next to him, Ever Giungiuli nods gravely and shows photos of schools in Gaza under which Hamas has built tunnels. “They do the same thing in hospitals. The leaders are rich, the people are poor. And it is improper to talk about genocide in Palestine: it is a war and all this is the result of the hatred instilled for years by Palestinians in their children.”

The police control and divert a group of tourists on bicycles: no tension, but always alert. Benedetto Sacerdoti, from the Forum, takes the floor. “We haven’t forgotten about the hostages, October 7th is an endless day, with every moment that passes the darkness becomes more and more intense for them. We want to send a message to the Israeli government: bring them home today. Reach an agreement and bring them home.”