Canadian families of freed hostages relieved but lament how long it has taken

Some Toronto residents have more reason than most Canadians to be overjoyed with the release of the three Israeli women hostages on Sunday Jan. 19, as part of the first stage of an agreed upon “cease-fire for hostages” deal with Hamas that is expected to last six weeks. Maureen Leshem’s younger cousin Romi Gonen, 24, was one of the trio to come out first after 471 days in captivity. Gonen was shot while fleeing the Nova Music festival on Oct. 7, where Hamas murdered many of her friends. Meanwhile, Aharon Brodutch found it hard to watch the coverage of this new round of freed hostages because it reminds him how four members of his own family were released from Gaza over a year ago, in November 2023. His sister-in-law Hagar Brodutch and her three young children, Ofri, 11, Yuval, 10, and Oriya, now 5, spent 51 days in captivity after being captured during the terrorist rampage through their Kibbutz Kfar Aza. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we’ll hear from Aharon Brodutch, who shares details about what the rehabilitation process for freed hostages looks like, and from Maureen Leshem about what the release of her young cousin means, and why they continue to advocate for the release of the remaining 95 hostages.

Related links

• Donate to the Hope for Romi fund to send financial help directly to Romi Gonen’s family to help her heal. 
• Hear our original The CJN Daily interview with Toronto physicist Aharon Brodutch from November 2023, when his Israeli sister-in-law and her three children were released from Hamas captivity.
• Read more about Iris Weinstein Haggai’s campaign to have her Canadian-raised mother, Judah Weinstein Haggai’s body returned from Gaza, in The CJN.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

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