Hostage Naama Levy is a peace activist

This is Ayala Levy Shahar, mother of 19-year-old Naama Levy, one of the hostages in the video released yesterday. She made this statement yesterday, after the release of the abduction video (below) in which we can see four of the young IDF spotters who tried desperately to get their commanders to heed their warnings that terrorists were preparing to break through the fence that very morning.

Released hostages who saw Naama in captivity told Levy Shahar that she was wounded in the leg on Oct 7th, but was walking on her own. I could find no other information at this time. Levy Shahar, a physician who also works with the Israeli women’s national football team, wrote an opinion piece for The Guardian. You can read it here. We remember Naama from the video that came out right away, in which they take her in her gray blood-streaked jogging pants from the back of a jeep and move her to the back seat. Here is a clip put together by Mideast Media Analyst Tom Gross in December 2023 showing, not just the hostage Naama Levy in the jeep scene, but the peace activist Naama Levy.

Naama’s father, Yoni Levy, has said that she also volunteered with women’s organizations, the Red Cross, and the UN — a lot for a 19-year-old. The latter two organizations did absolutely nothing for Naama even though they have an international mandate to ensure the health, welfare, and release of hostages, the taking of which is a war crime. And here is the abduction video that was recorded by the body cameras of Hamas terrorists who took them and approved for release by the soldiers’ parents. It has been edited to put together recordings from a number of body cams and to edit out the more horrific scenes of dead bodies and the extreme brutality to which they were subjected. It is far more powerful than just hearing about their abduction.

So young, I can only hope they find the emotional resources to endure this and come home ready to recover from all they are going through and build good lives. I believe in the resilience of the human spirit. But look at the horrific start to their now-230-day imprisonment in the dungeons of Gaza. Seven spotter were abducted alive. Ori Megidish was rescued by IDF forces after 23 days in captivity; Noa Marciano was murdered while in captivity and her body was returned by the IDF for burial in Israel. Five — Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniela Gilboa, and Naama Levy — are still being held. I am furious that their commanders told the spotters to stop harassing them on that morning as they had been doing for the days and even weeks leading up to Oct 7th. And if I am furious, I cannot even imagine the extent of the emotions felt by their parents, families, and friends. I hope their commanders are experiencing a guilt that is eating them up inside (and that they will face hefty suits and perhaps court martial after this war is over).

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Today, the Hostage Families Forum issued a press release in which they showed a clip of Naama’s older brother, Amit, showing the abduction video to British Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden at the British Cabinet Office. I hope they are imagining what they would do if one of these young women was a sister, daughter, neice, granddaughter of theirs. [video width="848" height="480" mp4="https://www.israeldiaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/amit-levy.mp4"][/video]

Feature Image is a screenshot from the Tom Gross video.

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