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Opinion|Trump and Biden, Make the Hostages Your Priority
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/23/opinion/trump-and-biden-make-the-hostages-your-priority.html
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Guest Essay
Dec. 23, 2024, 1:00 a.m. ET
By Keren Munder
Ms. Munder is an athletics teacher for children with special needs. She lives in Kfar Saba, Israel.
On Jan. 20, 1981, minutes after Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president, 52 American citizens held hostage in Iran for 444 days were released. Today, 96 hostages in Gaza have been held for nearly the same amount of time. As the American White House changes hands, I implore President Biden and President-elect Trump not to forget about them.
Among the hostages are two young children: Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were just 4 years old and 9 months old when they were kidnapped from the south of Israel along with more than 240 others, including an estimated 40 other children. I know the filth, the fear, the torture they endure because one year ago, I was one of them.
On Oct. 7, 2023, my 9-year-old son, Ohad, and I were visiting my parents in Kibbutz Nir Oz. We woke to sirens shortly after 6 a.m.
From television and WhatsApp groups, we learned the terrorists were near. I started to panic. I told Ohad to turn off the TV and get under the bed. I heard the sound of machine guns. We turned off the lights and locked the front door. My parents joined us in the safe room; it had no lock.
Then we heard the terrorists’ voices. My father, who walked with a cane, tried to hold the safe-room door shut. Suddenly, there were five armed men with us in the room. They took our mobile phones and led us outside. There I saw a line of cars was on fire; terrorists were driving golf carts filled with looted possessions. It was chaos.
Our captors put Ohad, my mother and me in a golf cart. My father had fallen as we left the house. He was still on the ground as we were driven away.
