October 14, 2026
Keith Siegel was held captive for 484 days in Gaza. How did the 63-year-old Israeli-American grandfather survive? He found inspiration from the Jewish generations before him who had also faced unrelenting persecution.
“I knew I must survive,” he said. “I must return to my family. I must.”
Keith Siegel, now 66, and his wife, Aviva Siegel, now 64, were taken from their home on Kibbutz Kfar Aza during the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks on Israel. More than 1,200 people were murdered that day, and 251 were kidnapped. The Siegels were driven into Gaza in their own car, along with a neighbor and her two children. Aviva Siegel was released on November 26, 2023, as part of a temporary ceasefire deal. Keith Siegel was released 433 days later.
Raised in North Carolina, Keith Siegel was one of 12 American citizens – eight of them alive – taken hostage by terrorists on October 7. Forty-five other Americans were murdered that day. Hersh Goldberg-Polin was murdered in captivity. On May 12, 2025, Edan Alexander was the last American hostage released alive after 584 days.
“I was communicating mentally with my family every day, talking to them, encouraging them, trying to give them strength,” he recounted during an interview. “Even though we were separated physically — and six months out of my 484 days I was alone — I never really felt alone because I knew that Aviva and my family were doing everything they possibly could.”
‘The people of AJC became like my family’
What Keith Siegel didn’t know was that Aviva and his family were not alone either. They had help from American Jewish Committee (AJC), the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people, which made the hostages’ release its No. 1 priority. Known for maintaining deep, bipartisan ties in Washington, D.C., to ensure the Jewish people and Israel are safe and thrivingl, AJC’s congressional affairs team organized, briefed, and escorted family members to more than 700 engagements with members of Congress to urge for action to bring the hostages home. Aviva Siegel attended more than 100 of those meetings, always with the same plea: to bring all the hostages home.
AJC’s advocacy extended far beyond Washington. Around the world, AJC engaged diplomats and government officials from more than 20 countries with citizens held hostage, connecting them with the families seeking their return.
In Paris, AJC, in coordination with the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, facilitated high-level meetings for five hostage families with French leaders, including three prime ministers, members of the French Legislative Assembly, the Mayor of Paris, and other leaders throughout society. In Brussels, AJC’s Transatlantic Institute convened hostage family members with influential diplomats and key European Parliament policymakers, in partnership with the European Center for Law and Justice.
“When I fought to bring Keith home, all the people of AJC became like my family,” Aviva Siegel said during an interview on the sidelines of AJC Global Forum 2026 in Washington, D.C. “Every time before we met them, somebody from AJC used to tell me who we're meeting, what they do, and I used to figure out how to connect to them and ask them and tell them that the most important thing for us as humans is to be human.”
‘The urgent need for collective, sustained advocacy’
For AJC CEO Ted Deutch, the abduction of 251 hostages and the anguish of their parents, partners, children, and grandchildren left no question where AJC needed to channel its energy. As a U.S. Congressman from Florida, Deutch had represented Robert Levinson, the longest-held American hostage in history, who is believed to have died in captivity. After getting to know the Levinson family and many other families of hostages and wrongfully detained Americans, Deutch sponsored the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage Taking Accountability Act. The bill offered support for families in similar circumstances and led Deutch to launch a congressional task force to help members of Congress navigate similar crises for their constituents.
“During my time in Congress, working with Robert Levinson’s family left a lasting impression on me—their resilience, their determination, and the urgent need for collective, sustained advocacy,” Deutch said. “After October 7, there was no question that AJC had to bring that same level of urgency—and do everything in our power—to help bring the hostages home. We are grateful every day that Keith and Aviva Siegel, along with 168 other hostages, were reunited with their loved ones. Our hearts remain with those whose family and friends never returned."
AJC’s goal was not simply to arrange meetings for hostage families, but to keep their stories front of mind for officials at the highest levels of leadership across society and build sustained pressure for immediate action to bring the hostages home. Since Hamas’ attack, AJC advocated side-by-side with more than 50 hostage families during their visits to the United States and Europe, engaging more than 200 members of Congress, U.S. administration officials, diplomats, faith leaders, and others.
The effort to bring the hostages home was a radical shift for a team that, as of October 6, had been focused on educating members of Congress about the most recent State of Antisemitism in America Report and pushing for an expansion of the Abraham Accords. AJC advocated for landmark legislation called the Regional Integration and Normalization Act (RINA), which focused on deepening the Accords and expanding Israel’s integration with its neighbors in the Middle East and North Africa.
All that changed when AJC Associate Director, Congressional Affairs Huston Harris was asked to escort two families of American hostages to meetings on Capitol Hill: the children of Keith and Aviva Siegel and the parents of Omer Neutra. By the time the delegation came together, it included two more families: the parents of Itay Chen and Edan Alexander.
Harris emotionally recounted his memory of that initial meeting in the lobby of the Hart Senate Office Building before the first set of meetings with U.S. senators.
“What do you say to these people? You're trying to advise them when they're in this catastrophic state of shock,” he said. “I remember this one mother looking down on the floor, with the weight of the world on her shoulders, she just couldn't lift her head up. You try to be as comforting as possible – not that there's any comfort to be had in a situation like that – by reassuring them that they're in good hands, and that if they have any concerns, or don't feel comfortable, to let me know.”
Thomas Zier, AJC’s Assistant Director of Congressional Affairs, recalls Aviva’s 100th meeting and her husband’s triumphant return less than two months later. Those incremental victories propelled him and others on the team to keep going.
“It’s hard not to hear the stories every time you’re on the Hill and not take that home with you. I know we all did,” he said. “It lit a fire in me that we couldn’t allow a precedent to be set on a world stage that this is permissible. We needed to do everything we could to keep this top of mind.”
Jacob Kwasman, AJC’s Assistant Director of Congressional Affairs, can still remember Aviva’s pleas to see her husband once again and the sheer endurance she showed over the course of 433 days while recovering from 51 days as a hostage herself.
“Aviva really wanted to make sure her words landed as close to home for whoever she was speaking with,” Kwasman recalled.
“She would talk about her story, she would talk about Keith, and she would talk about all the other hostages who she was with when she was held captive. The amount of effort it takes when these folks are going through the hardest thing that a person can go through – part of your soul is missing and locked up – and to ask them to dredge up that trauma, especially for Aviva, who is a released hostage – to relive her own trauma is not something that we could force anyone to do.”
Not only did the team’s agenda shift, but its operating methods also changed. Instead of primarily reaching out to allies on a carefully paced timeline, the hostage recovery effort transcended policy differences and required a new level of engagement, with delegations scheduled to meet with lawmakers every week.
“We made a deliberate effort to engage a range of members of Congress, including those who may not share our views on other Israel-related issues,” Jessica Bernton, AJC’s Director of Congressional Affairs, said, “because at the end of the day, this was not about politics or the policy decisions of a government. This was about something far more basic and human: families waiting, loved ones missing, and the urgent need to bring them home.”
“You can scream into the void, and the void usually doesn't respond,” Harris said. “But then you find those moments where it does, and that was the Hill for the families. You could see in their countenance and how they felt at the end of the day. They felt heard and seen by members of Congress. There was a sliver of optimism.”
‘We can only go forward because that’s how people do it’
Siegel said instilling hope is no insignificant feat. He recalls so many moments of hopelessness in Gaza. As he and Aviva work on their recovery, they pay it forward by trying to instill hope in others facing dire circumstances.
In January, the couple traveled with IsraAID, Israel’s leading non-governmental humanitarian aid agency and a longtime AJC partner, to the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, home to more than 300,000 refugees from South Sudan, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia. The refugees have limited access to safe water, food, and essential services.
“Coming back from captivity and going through what we went through changed so many things, but we're the lucky ones to be alive,” Aviva Siegel said, adding that 41 families living in Kibbutz Kfar Aza lost at least one family member – 64 people total, some of whom she taught as children. “It really, really broke my heart … Keith and I are trying to figure out how to carry our trauma and walk around with the head above the water. It's going to take time … We can only go forward because that's how people do it.”
When Israeli Defense Forces retrieved the body of Israeli police officer Ran Gvili in January, it was the first time since 2014 that no living or deceased hostages were held in Gaza. It was also the first time since October 7, 2023, that AJC’s ad hoc hostage rescue team could breathe a sigh of relief, knowing their mission was finally complete.
“This work will always be with me. It was so personal,” Bernton said. “We became so close to these families, and hearing these intimate stories, it felt like they became our family too. We couldn't stop until it was over. I carry that with me into the work I'm doing today – seeing the antisemitism that is continuing to occur, not only in our country and around the world, and how important it is that we continue to advocate and do the work that we're doing and ensure that Israel is safe and respected across the world. The work is so important now more than ever before, and really knowing that our role as an advocate and a convener can make a difference helps remind me why I continue to do this work, and why we're so needed.”
