The Israeli hostage’s appeal to his Hamas captors reveals his aspiration for peace

The video shows a bloodied Naama Levy pleading with her kidnappers.

“I have friends in Palestine,” she tells the Hamas fighters who are holding her.

Levy did so, her mother said, as a result of a US program encouraging dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli youth, which Levy was part of before mandatory military service began, leading to her being taken hostage on the morning of October 7.

It was the friendships she made during her time in the Hands of Peace program — which has since been shut down — that she was likely referring to, her mother told NBC News, when she appeared in a video showing female recruits being captured by Hamas militants. Footage released on Wednesday showed fighters calling the women, some of them covered in blood, “dogs” and threatening to shoot them.

The video sparked outrage in Israel, where officials viewed it as evidence of Hamas’ brutality, while hostage families said it should serve as a reminder to focus on securing an agreement to see their loved ones released and an end to the fighting in Gaza. Levy’s words are seen by some as a symbolic blow to an already beleaguered Israeli left, after decades of hard-line voices drowning out those who were calling for peace and reconciliation with the Palestinians.

“She always had a great passion for connecting between people and communities and speaking out loud, listening to the other side,” Ayelet Levy-Shachar said of her daughter in a phone interview Thursday.

The video showing her captivity was published by the Forum for Families of Hostages and Missing Persons, which said the footage was captured on cameras worn by Hamas activists and obtained by the Israeli army. The group said the video was “edited and censored to exclude the most disturbing scenes.” It was not immediately clear who edited it and what was left out.

The group identified the other women in the video as Leri Albag, Karina Arif, Agam Berger, and Daniela Gilboa. All are believed to remain in Hamas hands.

Levy-Shashar said she and the families of other hostages hoped the video would prompt the Israeli government to focus on negotiating a ceasefire to see their loved ones released and end the war in Gaza, where more than 35,000 people have been killed. Since Israel launched its attack after October 7.

“We felt that things were not moving… in the right direction or in the direction of the negotiations,” she said.

After weeks of training, Levy had only been serving for a few days when she was taken hostage. Levy Shachar said her daughter was not interested in being a “combat soldier” and was hoping to pursue a career in diplomacy.

As part of that effort, Levy Shashar said, her daughter joined the Hands of Peace summer program in San Diego, California, in 2022. The program brought Israeli, Palestinian and American teens together in an effort to foster dialogue and empower them to become “agents of change” in the bitter conflict. And long term.

“They sat together and talked to each other, which was revolutionary, you know, and it was very difficult. “But they can still do it,” she said.

Hands of Peace founder Gretchen Jarrad told NBC News in a phone interview Thursday that she had never met Levy in person, but her colleagues remembered her as a “bright, committed, outgoing” young woman during her time in the summer program.

Describing its mission on its website, Hands of Peace said it believes “the conditions existing between Israelis and Palestinians are unacceptable and there must be an urgent, non-violent end to the occupation that leads to safety and security for all.”

Grad said that the organization “acknowledges the existence of the occupation,” but said it does not have an “educational agenda.” She said she seeks to provide a platform for Palestinian and Israeli youth “to speak their truths” and equip them “to become change makers.”

Hands of Peace was one of many organizations that took root as part of a broader global movement to see a solution to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict that might provide peace, security and stability for both sides.

Israel’s once powerful peace movement served as a major inspiration for the vision of the country’s kibbutzim, which were key to the creation of the Jewish state. Kibbutz communities were the most affected in the Hamas attack on October 7.

It was the peace movement that prompted the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, which sought to develop a path towards implementing a two-state solution, with the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. But with the collapse of the Oslo process and the second Palestinian intifada, the movement diminished. The war in Gaza poses an unprecedented challenge to the range of peace organizations still working in Israel, many of which advocate for a two-state solution and Palestinian rights.

Levy-Shachar said she had never spoken at length with her daughter about her beliefs on the conflict, but said she believed Levy would want to see a “two-state” solution — a sentiment she shared.

Her comments came as three allies of the United States and Israel announced this week that they would recognize a Palestinian state, joining more than two-thirds of UN members.

But Israeli officials said the footage showing the soldiers’ families only supports their argument against the establishment of a Palestinian state.

A said mail On Israel’s official account on the X website, which is run by its Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Gallup poll Photos taken in the weeks following the October 7 attack showed that 65% of Israelis opposed a two-state solution, a decline from a decade ago when 61% of respondents supported the idea.

Referring to Levy’s comments in the video, Israeli government spokesman Elon Levy said that these comments “did not help. Hamas did not care about the political beliefs of its victims.”

Jarrad noted that Hands of Peace folded in March after two decades, which she said was due to a lack of funds and volunteers, which she attributed largely to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Asked whether the events that occurred over the past eight months contributed to the decision to halt operations, she said they did not.

But despite the organization’s closure, she said she believes initiatives like Hands of Peace are more important than ever.

She said that Hands of Peace gave Palestinian and Israeli youth a space for dialogue, which she said was rarely an option “in their local communities.”

“I think the work must continue,” she added.

Levy Shachar said she thinks her daughter wants the same thing.

“She believed, and still believes, that maybe, I hope, the world could be a better place,” she said. “And we are able to make changes for the better.”