Hear the families of Hamas’s hostages urge the Canadian government to do more

If you ask some relatives of the nearly 240 Israeli hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, they will say “there hasn’t been enough pressure” to free their loved ones. That’s one of the key messages they emphasized during private meetings with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and with other Canadian politicians and journalists, on Oct. 30. The Israeli group said they are getting little to no information on their loved ones’ status from their own government, which they’ve accused of failing to protect their families. They called on Canada to break off diplomatic and financial ties to organizations and countries that help Hamas, and they want Canada to pressure Israel to make hostage recovery the top priority. On today’s The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner brings you the powerful words of several relatives, including Winnipeg-born hostage Vivian Silver’s son, Chen Zeigen; Aharon Brodutch, a Canadian-Israeli physicist whose sister-in-law and three young children were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza (including his niece, Ofri, 10, who attended Camp Gesher in Ontario this summer, and nephews Yuval, 8, and Uriah, 4); Harel Lapidot, a Regina-born Israeli lawyer, whose niece Tiferet Lapidot, 22, was murdered at the Supernova music festival, and Itay Raviv, with three relatives held hostage and one uncle murdered at Kibbutz Nir Oz.

What we talked about

• Why Vivian Silver’s close friend thinks she would want to be freed from Hamas peacefully, on The CJN Daily
• Watch the full press conference by families of the Hamas victims on CPAC’s YouTube channel
• Read more about the hostage families’ anguish in The CJN

Credits

The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.