Just earlier today, January 26, 2026, the remains of Ran Gvili was recovered in a cemetery in Gaza and brought hime to be properly and respectively buried in an Israel cemetery near his home. He was the last of the 251 hostages taken 843 days ago on October 7, 2023. During his recovery IDF soldiers were heard singing, “Ani Ma amin”, translated, “I Believe”, known to have been sung as an anthem of hope in ghettos and concentration camps during the Holocaust. This was followed by the singing of Hatikvah, “The Hope”, the Israeli national anthem.

For the first time since 2014 no Israeli citizen remains in Gaza. President Isaac Herzog, who I had the honor of meeting in November, remarked, “The entire people of Israel are moved to tears.” For me that means every Jew on planet Earth. And I believe that that’s also true by many others of different faiths.

-Harriet