A Tragic Postscript to Atlanta’s Hostage Vigil
A sad ending to hopes for a joyous reunion of a couple kidnapped on Oct. 7.
Dave Schechter is a veteran journalist whose career includes writing and producing reports from Israel and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Editor’s Note: Aug.1 will be day #300 for those still held hostage in Gaza.
Shani Segal and Yael Nidam noticed that something was amiss as they looked over the Shabbat table set up in the social hall of the Ahavath Achim Synagogue on Oct. 30.
Attached to every chair was a photograph of an Israeli kidnapped on Oct. 7, when Hamas-led terrorists attacked kibbutzim, towns, and a music festival in the “Gaza envelope” of southern Israel.
The chairs bearing images of Rimon Kirsht and Yagev Buchstav were apart.
Kirsht’s cousin, Shani Segal, and her sister-in-law, Yael Nidam, rearranged the chairs so that the husband and wife were seated together. For good measure, they also moved a chair displaying a photo of a kidnapped friend of Kirsht and Buchstav.
A little later, seated on the synagogue bimah, Segal said: “We always hear about southern hospitality — and the brisket. I just want to say to everyone here, thank you from all of us. You know the past three weeks have been horrible but it feels like home, so thank you.”
She was thanking the nearly 2,000 people who turned out for a vigil in support of the hostages.
Kirsht, 36, and Buchstav, 34, were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nirim.
Kirsht “has the craziest agriculture hands,” Segal said, laughing, contrasting her own inability to keep a plant alive with that of her cousin. Segal said that she and Buchstav “think that music is air to our lungs.” The couple cared for injured animals and he also restored broken musical instruments.
Earlier that day, Hamas had released a video of three women hostages, Kirsht among them. “This has been a true roller coaster. The moment we saw the video we felt, she’s alive. For three weeks we did not know if she’s alive or dead,” Segal said. “When the night comes down . . . you start to think, she should not be there.”
None of them should have been there, not one of the 250 men, women, and children kidnapped on Oct. 7.
None of them should still be there, not one of the 115 men, women, and children — more than one-third of them believed dead — still being held in Gaza.
A series of intelligence and military failures, and policy decisions that reach to the prime minister’s desk, contributed to what Israelis refer to as the “Black Sabbath.”
Segal and Nidam Kirsht were part of a delegation of six hostage relatives, two each representing three families, who came to Atlanta as part of a U.S. tour. Day after day and night after night, they appealed to anyone who would listen.
Earlier in the day, six family members were scheduled to speak at the Atlanta Press Club. I had been given their names in advance, but two were substituted before coming to Atlanta.
I was stunned when the two substitutes turned out to be members of my extended family, from a branch on my family tree that traces back to my great-grandfather’s twin brother.
Seven family members were kidnapped and three were murdered when terrorists attacked Kibbutz Be’eri.
Six of those kidnapped — women and children from three generations — were freed Nov. 25 in an exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The seventh, Tal Shoham, remains a hostage. He turned 39 years old in Gaza. His wife, Adi, and their children, 8-year-old Naveh and 4-year-old Yahel, survived 50 days as hostages. Adi recently posted a page filled with the questions that Naveh and Yahel ask about when their father will return. It is heartbreaking.
Kirsht was freed in a Nov. 28 exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. You may remember the video of Kirsht, clad in pink pajamas, defiantly staring down an armed, masked, and uniformed Hamas terrorist, before putting an arm around another released hostage and walking to a Red Cross vehicle.
Unfortunately, there will be no joyous reunion of husband and wife. On July 22, Israel confirmed the deaths in Gaza of Buchstav and another hostage, Alex Dancyg. Hamas said in March that Buchstav died from a lack of food and medication, a claim not verified by the Israel Defense Forces.
Hearing that news, I immediately thought of Segal and Nidam and their appeals to Atlanta’s Jewish community.
Rimon Kirsht said of her late husband: “Yagev was a good soul, sensitive, beautiful, and enchanting.” Buchstav’s memory will be a blessing to his family and friends.
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