UK-Israeli hostage has been forgotten, says distraught mother
Mandy Damari believes her kidnapped daughter, a British citizen, is a forgotten victim of the Hamas atrocities a year ago.
On the grim anniversary of the October 7 atrocity, the mother of a British woman held hostage by Hamas has implored the Keir Starmer government to do more to secure the release of the 101 kidnapped Israeli’s held inside of Gaza.
Mandy Damari took to the stage at a Jewish Board of Deputies “Remembering Oct 7 memorial event” in Hyde Park on Sunday, telling an Israeli flag waving crowd of thousands of her family’s pain and urging more to be done by international governments, but particularly Britain, to have the hostages returned home.
The peaceful gathering under leaden skies listened intently to Mrs Damari’s message, a sobering reminder of the devastation Hamas’ co-ordinated surprise mass slaughter and kidnappings continues to wreak upon Israel and Jews throughout the world. Images of those killed on October 7 were shown on a big screen.
The Hyde Park commemoration event came a day after ten thousand people marched through central London in support of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and angered at Israel’s expanded military activities in Gaza and Lebanon. Seventeen people were arrested at that particular gathering on Saturday including a person wearing an aviator helmet, googles and a parachute in support of the paraglider terrorists who flew into the Nova Festival a year ago, killing more than 350 young festival goers. Police were continuing to seek others who had been pictured with placards in support of the proscribed terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas.
Mrs Damari’s 28 year old daughter Emily, was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from her apartment in the Israeli kibbutz Kfar Aza village on October 7 last year during the shocking brutality of that morning – the worst since the Holocaust. Frontline doctors and even the United Nations have told of the shocking sexual violence the Hamas attackers inflicted.
Mrs Damari, who grew up in south London, said the hostages continued to be tortured and murdered, and said “I implore those in power here to use every ounce of influence they have to advocate for the release of all the hostages, and to secure the release of their UK citizen.”
She spoke of having her heart broken a little more day by day, demanding actions, not words and asked that the British prime minister Keir Starmer acknowledge that there is still a British citizen still being held captive.
“Emily, is 28 years old, full of life, with dual nationality, British and Israeli,’’ she said from the central stage.
“She is a daughter of both countries, but no one here mentions the fact that there is still a female British hostage being held captive by Hamas for a year now, and I sometimes wonder if people even know there is a British woman there.”
Mrs Damari added: “Try to picture what she is going through. Since Oct 7 last year, she has been held a hostage by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza terror tunnels, 20 metres or more underground, kept in captivity, tortured, isolated, unable to eat, speak or even move without someone else’s permission. Stripped of every human right. It is almost impossible to comprehend her pain. Yet it is the reality she is living every single day.”
Emily was kidnapped shortly after 10am on October 7 shortly after sending a message that terrorists had entered the kibbutz and were shooting nearby. Her dog, which she was holding in her arms, was shot dead, and she was reportedly also shot in the arm. Emily was seen in Hamas’s underground tunnels by Dafna Elyakim, 15, who was released back in January.
Israeli authorities believe 101 hostages remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip, of which 97 were taken on October 7 last year. Hamas is also holding two Israeli villains who entered Gaza in 2014 and 2015 and the bodies of two Israeli Defence Force soldiers who were killed in 2014. The Israelis say that around 252 people were kidnapped on October 7.
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