NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Thousands of people gathered Sunday at Central Park's Naumburg Bandshell at the "150 Days in Hell" rally to demand the release of the 134 remaining Hamas-kidnapped hostages in Gaza. About 120 others were previously released by the terror group or rescued by the Israeli Defense Forces.
The rally -- which followed a protest on Friday, International Women's Day, outside the office of UN Women executive director Sima Bahous for her agency's silence on the sexual violence against the hostages -- was organized by the Hostages Families Forum and included more than 70 community and political groups, and synagogues. According to organizers, more than 3,000 people attended the rally.
Speakers included Keren Munder, 54, who was abducted Oct. 7 from Kibbutz Nir Oz with her 9-year-old son, as well as Gilad Korngold, the father of hostage Tal Shoham, 38.
Both Munder and Korngold spoke about the horrors of being held in captivity in Gaza.
"We met other hostages while I was there," Munder told the crowd, many of whom waved large Israeli flags and flags representing the nationalities of other hostages. "Their physical and mental condition was very tough. A lot of time has passed since then. We don't know how much longer they can survive."
Korngold was more blunt: "Every day our sons and daughters are tortured, beaten, and raped," he said. "We must do everything to bring them home."
Elected officials who spoke included New York State assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, NYC city councilor and chair of the Jewish Caucus Eric Dinowitz, and NYC city councilor Lynn Schulman. NYC comptroller Brad Lander and NYS Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal were also in attendance.
Assemblyman Dinowitz took aim at his fellow lawmakers: "My colleagues in government, almost unanimously believe the hostages should be brought home right now, and that should be the priority. It’s very sad there’s a small number of people in the city council, the state assembly, the state senate, from whom I’ve never heard one word saying, ‘Bring them home,’ because that’s not their agenda."
He added, "When some people post on Twitter a map of the Middle East with Israel not on it, when some people post tweets that say 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,' without knowing which river or which sea they're talking about, that's really a big problem. And we have to stand tall, not only for the release of the hostages, not only in support of Israel, but stand tall and strong against antisemitism, against Jew-hatred, which is more prominent and more public than its ever been than most of our lifetimes."
Council member Lynn Schulman recounted meeting with Israeli first responders on a recent trip to the country, and said that it hasn't sat well with some of her constituents -- but she doesn't care.
"I will tell you that I have some constituents, that said to me because I went to Israel, because I support the Jewish community, because I support Israel, they're not going to vote for me," she said. "Well guess what? I'm a Jew first and an elected official second!"
Other speakers included the new chief executive office of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and former NYC city councilor Mark Treyger, Rabbi Angela Buchdahl of Central Synagogue in midtown Manhattan, and the Hostage Families Forum cofounder Dana Cwaigrach
Treyger gave a rousing speech, declaring "I am a proud Jewish American," before the crowd began chanting "Bring them home now!"
Rabbi Buchdahl quoted Jon Polin, father of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, saying, "There is a high price to pay for getting the hostages home. There is a bigger price to pay for not getting them home."
After the rally at the Naumburg Bandshell, attendees marched across Central Park to the West Side.
