January 17, 2024
AJC Los Angeles was honored to host several family members of hostages still held captive in Gaza in early December. We had the privilege of hosting Naama and Ofir Weinberg, cousins of Itai Svirsky, whose murder we are devastated to announce was confirmed on Tuesday, January 16th, as well as Itay Raviv, who's uncle, Avraham Munder, remains in captivity.
Naama, Ofir and Itay joined us for our Annual Judge Learned Hand Award Dinner, where they shared their gut-wrenching yet heartfelt stories of Itai and Avraham and had the opportunity to meet individually with LA Mayor Karen Bass and The Honorable Israel Bachar, Consul General of Israel.
During their time in Los Angeles, we hosted a variety of programs to allow the families to share their stories, including interviews with KABC 790, Fox 11, ABC 7, and Prager U. They also joined in an impactful breakfast meeting with celebrities, influencers and content creators with millions of followers collectively, which was organized by a prominent industry leader.
The families also had the opportunity to have an intimate, closed-door meeting with several members of LA City Council including Councilmembers Bob Blumenfield, Katy Yaroslavsky, Traci Park, and Kevin de Leon, as well as LA City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto.
We concluded the week with a gathering of AJC Los Angeles leaders for Shabbat dinner, and a meaningful yoga event, “Shine a Light: Bring Them Home”, during which we practiced 57 sun salutations for the 57 days of captivity that the hostages had, up until that day, endured.
We were honored and humbled to host Itay, Naama and Ofir, and we are dedicated to doing everything we can to carry Itai’s legacy of light and love, and bring Avraham, and the remaining hostages, home swiftly and safely.
