They are home!!!!

Dear Friends,

So here we are, exactly two years to the day according to the Jewish calendar. The remaining living hostages have been returned to Israel, and we now await the return of the bodies of most of those murdered so they can receive the respectful burial they deserve.

As I write these words, I am still abroad, in India, joining from afar with tears of joy and relief, and also with tears of finality. In the middle of a meeting with the director of a major research center, I suddenly began to cry as the images of the returning hostages appeared on my phone. My hosts weren’t quite sure what to do with me!

It feels almost unreal to type these words. After more than two years of crying, marching, pleading, and demanding, they are home.

Today, before anything else, I want to honor our community: 

The students, faculty, and staff of Ben-Gurion University who put down their books, picked up their uniforms, and went to defend this country.
Those who refused to let the world forget.
Those who hung posters and stood in rallies week after week.

And on a deeply personal note, there are no words to describe the joy of welcoming back Avinatan Or and Segev Kalfon, members of our own BGU family who should never have had to endure what they did. Today, they are back where they belong—with their families, with their people, with us.

May this day mark a beginning:
A beginning of healing.
A beginning of dignity, as those who were murdered are laid to rest.
And a beginning of safety and homecoming for every soldier still in the field.

With heartfelt gratitude and hope,
Danny