Grief, Outrage and Hope

The following is an article that I wrote, which appeared in the February 27, 2025, editions of the Washington Jewish Week, Philadelphia Jewish Exponent and Baltimore Jewish Times:

Posters featuring Ariel and Kfir Bibas at Ben Gurion Airport, where people placed stuffed animals and toys next to the photos of the children. Photo credit: Aaron Troodler

I had flaming red hair as a young child. In fact, my hair didn’t look all that different from Ariel Bibas’ hair when I was that age.

That being said, it wasn’t our shared hair color that forged a bond between us. Our connection was much more profound. Our bond was formed the moment Ariel, his younger brother, Kfir, his mother, Shiri, and his father, Yarden, were kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

For over 500 days, we prayed for the Bibas family. The heart-wrenching images of them being forcibly dragged from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz by terrorists is forever seared into our hearts and minds. Yarden being led away by Hamas, his head bloodied after being struck with a hammer. Shiri, with a terrified look on her face as she desperately clutched her two children — Ariel, who was just 4 years old at the time, and Kfir, who was only 9 months old — while Hamas terrorists whisked them away to Gaza. Those indelible and indescribable images can never be unseen or forgotten.

We held our collective breath for the past year and a half as their fate remained unknown, clinging to the hope that they would somehow survive their ordeal in hellish and inhumane conditions under Hamas’ diabolical control and ultimately return home safely.

Our hopes were shattered last week when the bodies of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir, along with the body of 84-year-old Oded Lifshitz, were returned to Israel in coffins. Yarden Bibas, who was released by Hamas on Feb. 1, was left to somehow process the fact that his wife and two young children are tragically never coming home.

And as we grieved their loss and tried to understand how and why a mother and her two beautiful, young children could have befallen such a terrible fate, we felt another emotion as well: outrage.

Outrage at the fact that Hamas barbarians ripped these innocent souls from their home and brutally murdered two young children. Outrage at the fact that when Hamas released the bodies last week, it choreographed a sickening spectacle that saw the promotion of terrorist propaganda right behind the coffins and armed Hamas terrorists and crowds of Palestinians who gathered to take part in what disgustingly became a communitywide event and a twisted and sadistic celebration. Outrage that Hamas initially returned a body that was purportedly Shiri Bibas but turned out to be someone else. Outrage at the fact that far too many people around the world continue to vilify Israel while inexplicably giving Hamas a free pass for their depravity and the unimaginable pain and suffering that ensued as a result of their heinous acts.

The Bibas family deserved better. Oded Lifshitz deserved better. Every single one of the hostages deserved better. In some way, it feels like we failed them, and that failure hurts.

The photos of the two young Bibas children that we have seen from the past, whether it be baby Kfir, his face lit up by his beautiful smile, or Ariel wearing his Batman pajamas, are a painful reminder of the lives they should have had, but that were tragically cut short. Ariel and Kfir could have been my children, your children, our children. It is hard to fathom how something like this could happen.

We must hold the photos of the Bibas family that we have seen close to our hearts and use those images as motivation to keep their memories alive. Ariel and Kfir Bibas were our children too. And every one of the hostages is our mother, father, sibling or child too.

No one should ever forget what happened to Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas. There are no words to adequately describe the grief and outrage we all feel. Yet despite our pain and anger, we cannot falter in our efforts to bring every single one of the remaining hostages home and we cannot forsake the hope that we must hold on to in order for us to persevere despite the immense challenges that we face.

We should channel our emotions into action, and they should fuel our enduring efforts to make sure the world never forgets what happened on Oct. 7. Despite the widespread indifference and deafening silence in the wake of Hamas’ savagery, we cannot lose hope that all of our hostages will soon be reunited with their families.

As we grieve for Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, and Oded Lifshitz, and in the face of Hamas’ abject evil and wanton disregard for human life, we must let the world know that the spirit and resilience of the Jewish people will never be broken.