Hostage Quotes

“But I don’t want to survive just for them. I don’t want to live just for them. I want to live for myself too. For me, Eli Sharabi. I want to live. I love life. I crave it. I want to breathe life, to walk free, to return to the open skies, to go back home, to work, to purpose. To return to the sea, to diving, to hiking, to the Jewish holidays we celebrate as a nuclear family in Israel and those we celebrate with Lianne’s family in Britain. To return to the roads, to driving, to walking down the street, to my simple, regular, worry-free day-to-day.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“I don’t know if I feel God in those moments. But I feel power. I feel a connection. To my people. To our tradition. To my identity. It connects me to my family. To my childhood. To my roots. It reminds me why I must survive. Who I’m surviving for. What I’m surviving for.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“We hear the Triangle scolding him in the hallway, saying this isn’t the way of the Quran, that it’s not acceptable. If this isn’t acceptable, then what is? Murdering women and children, that’s acceptable? Shooting youngsters in an airless bunker, that’s acceptable? Murdering Almog’s girlfriend and then abducting him and tying him, injured, to a bed, that’s acceptable? Brutally abducting civilians from their homes and shoving them into a dark tunnel, that’s acceptable? Starving us, humiliating us, hiding us away, that’s acceptable? Don’t you have any red lines? Are there no limits to your malice? Just as long as you’re not beating me, everything’s fine? Do you think you’re angels? Good students of the Quran? Does this make sense in your heads?”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“Some of them are more extreme, or perhaps only more honest, and say that their mission doesn’t end there, between the river and the sea. They dream of establishing an Islamic empire that will conquer the whole world. In their minds, not only is there no such thing as Israel; there is no such thing as France or Britain or Sweden either. The whole world should be Muslim.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“Hope is never something that comes easily. It’s always something you’ve got to fight for, to work on. Like Kiddush every Friday night, like Elia’s Havdalah songs at the end of every Sabbath, like the prayers that open every morning, this circle of thanksgiving is something that we stick to, cling to, cleave to. To search for something good. To stay optimistic. To win.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“I'm being kidnapped. I understand this is a catastrophe. I understand what this means. I don't mind that they're beating me. I don't even feel it. Because in these moments, as I'm being led past the kibbutz fence, under the blazing sun, engulfed by the smell of smoldering ruins, a headband strapped over my eyes, dragged by terrorists gripping both my hands, totally aware that I am being abducted into Gaza but knowing at least that Lianne and the girls were left behind, I focus and concentrate on one mission: surviving to return home. There is no more regular Eli. From now on, I am Eli the survivor.”
― Eli Sharabi, חטוף

“They dream of establishing an Islamic empire that will conquer the whole world. In their minds, not only is there no such thing as Israel; there is no such thing as France or Britain or Sweden either. The whole world should be Muslim.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“The terrorists who broke into my home in Be’eri were not just looking to make ends meet. They were medieval barbarians, whose hatred for Jews and Israel trumped their love of life itself. I can’t think of any parallel to the depth of their hatred and willingness to perpetrate atrocities in the name of an ideology. It’s the kind of low point of humanity you read about only in books.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“In our interactions, I begin to understand the depth of his ignorance and how badly he has been brainwashed. They’re absolutely certain that Israelis only want to kill them and dream of doing evil. Most critically, I understand that he and his ilk are not such great idealists as they try to make out. They weren’t just searching for meaning and stumbled on terrorism. They flocked after Hamas and chose to be terrorists for economic reasons. They understood where the money was and where power lay, and they followed it.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“There are moments he [one of his captors] opens up to us, and I learn that he has eight children and that in his “real life,” before the war, he was a Hamas police officer. He didn’t just stumble into this position when the war broke out. He’s a Hamas career man.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“Hope is never something that comes easily. It’s always something you’ve got to fight for, to work on. Like Kiddush every Friday night, like Elia’s Havdalah songs at the end of every Sabbath, like the prayers that open every morning, this circle of thanksgiving is something that we stick to, cling to, cleave to.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“The streets [of Gaza in September 2024] are full of people. Stores are open. Some selling groceries, others meat. I can smell food being cooked, being fried, and I’m desperate for a bite.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“Because no matter how kind and considerate you are, you never really learn the art of sharing until you share your life with someone else.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“The place was in ruins. I saw IDF flyers on the floor, telling everyone in the neighborhood to evacuate.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“Hersh looks at us. “He who has a why can bear any how,” he says.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“They honestly believed everything would end after two weeks of air strikes. They didn’t understand, it’s different this time.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“On day five in captivity, a man we haven’t seen before arrives. He’s very tall, at least six foot three, fair-haired, fair-skinned, with blue eyes and a camera in hand. He looks German but speaks fluent Arabic with the Cleaner and the Mask. With us, he speaks flawless English. He explains that he’s going to film us.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“But for now, we’re not in the tunnels: we’re in a family home.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“Whenever we need to pee, the father or one of his sons grabs us, takes us out of the room, leads us to the bathroom, and pulls our boxers down so we can relieve ourselves. It’s humiliating. You’re standing there, exposed, blindfolded, hands tied, legs bound, performing the most basic, private act after someone has stripped you down, knowing his gaze is fixed on you the whole time.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“This is our first stop in the Gaza Strip. It’s a mosque.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“To our surprise, our captors are hoping for a Trump victory. At first, we can’t understand why. Personally, we’re worried that Trump’s return to the White House could lead to an escalation in the war. But soon enough, we understand their thinking. They are hungry for change. They are fed up with Biden and hope that Trump will somehow move the needle and force a deal.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“Only a few thousand people in the whole Gaza Strip are allowed to work in Israel every day,” he [our captor whines and] tells us.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“We walk briskly and in total silence for about fifteen minutes till we reach a big house. We enter. It’s dark. Very dark. Trash lifts the rug in the living room, revealing a tunnel shaft.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“Why a mosque? Why not another house? Why are we going into a mosque? Inside, the Cleaner and Nightingale take us to a side room and open a trapdoor. Beneath the trapdoor is a shaft. A shaft leading into a dark tunnel.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“Almog [Sarusi] sighs. “They put me in some house, tied me to a bed with these injuries, leaving me bleeding for ten days. Barely any food, barely any water, couldn’t move my arms or my body, no treatment. I think I survived those first days only because I was still high from the party. I was gonna die there, until one day some tall guy showed up. Blond, kinda German-looking.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“The man smiles at me and shakes my hand. They talk. The woman, veiled, stands next to me. But when the man speaks to her, she responds in fluent Arabic, and I immediately realize: It’s a man.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage

“They bring us a bucket of cold water and soap, take us from our room to a corner of the same floor, and ask us to strip and wash. Then they demand we shave all our body hair: not just head and beard, but also pubic hair.”
― Eli Sharabi, Hostage