Michelle Rukovicin was the most wounded person to survive the October 7 massacre. Her body riddled with seven bullets and grenade fragments, she spent 14 hours bleeding nearly to death in a bunker, before spending three months in a coma. But recovery was in many ways harder than the October 7 trauma itself. She then spent nearly two years learning to talk, walk, and feed herself again. Her boyfriend of five years, Rinat Kasimov, stayed with her at the hospital every single day. Just weeks ago, Michelle married the man who never gave up on her, and was even able to walk herself to the chuppha (Jewish wedding tent), a feat that even the doctors feared she would never accomplish.

Rom Braslavski was a 19-year-old security employee working at the Nova Music Festival on October 7. Despite being wounded in both hands, Rom rescued several women, saving their lives before he was captured by the terrorists. For the next two+ years, Rom was tortured and starved in an effort to force him to convert to Islam. Every time Rom refused to convert, his tormentors would beat him worse. When Rom was finally freed and reunited with his family in the Israeli hospital center set up to receive the hostages, Rom tearfully exclaimed the phrase he had repeated to himself for 738 days just to stay alive, “I am a strong Jew!” He had two wishes — to be able to pray and to see the sky.

Video footage released not long after showed Rom gleefully running headlong into the waters of the Mediterranean, joyfully praising God for the simple freedom of sun on his face and bathing in the sea.

Segev Kalfon had a David-like moment when his beaten and blood-covered body was paraded through Gaza. A stage had been set up in the middle of the Gaza town to celebrate Hamas’ “October Surprise,” mocking the half-dead Jews and their God. As Palestinians spat upon him, Segev gazed at the terrorists on the stage, wanting nothing more than to live long enough to climb up that stage and shout in defiance: “Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad” (Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One). For two years, Segev would repeat the Shema to himself multiple times a day, always silently, for to say anything aloud was an invitation to be beaten again. His first words, upon meeting his parents in the Israeli hospital coordinating the hostages’ release, was to shout the words he could only think for the past two years.

Yosef-Chaim Ohana was held in the same Gaza tunnel as Segev Kalfon was for much of his imprisonment. When the hostages weren’t being beaten, they were being starved. Every few days, the Israelis in the tunnel were given just a cup of maggot-riddled rice to share among the four of them. Yosef clung to the Shema as a lifeline. He sang the song silently in his head, for to speak those words or any words at all meant more beatings and death threats. On the day Yosef was released, his parents ran to his hospital room exclaiming the Shema at the top of their lungs. Tears of joy followed as in Yosef’s weakened voice, he was finally able to join their joyous cries to the Lord, “Shema Yisrael, Adonai* Elokeinu, Adonai Echad” (*Both Hashem and Adonai are among the Jewish names for God).

Alon Ohel was an acclaimed Serbian-Israeli pianist when Hamas kidnapped him and held him prisoner for 738 days. Even after his release on October 13, 2025, Alon had to spend weeks in the hospital recovering from his heavy wounds and extreme malnutrition. The damage to Alon’s fingers was extensive, and he wasn’t sure he would ever play again. But when he finally was able to leave the hospital, the streets of his hometown thronged with well-wishers. “It’s important for me to say that all this love also reached 50 meters underground in Gaza,” Alon told reporters. “I felt it every moment. It was crazy, and it’s such a joy to come back all together, united.”

For two years, a lone piano stood in Tel Aviv’s hostage square, honoring Alon’s captivity. On November 19, 2025, in an incredibly moving tribute, Alon sat at that very piano and finally was able to play again.

Noa Argamani and Avinatan Or, the girl on the motorbike who became the face of Hamas’ horror, stood on stage at the Jewish Federations General Assembly in Washington, D.C., earlier this month. She was joined by her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, who tried to save her, but wound up imprisoned by Hamas for nearly a full year longer than his girlfriend. Our support, said Noa, “is living proof that hope, even in the darkest places can survive.” Avinatan added, “I carry a responsibility, to know good from evil, right from wrong, and to have moral clarity.”

There are 176 joyful stories just like this from the Jews who managed, against all odds, to survive years in Hamas’ Gaza dungeons. They, their families, all of Israel, and much of the world has a great deal to be thankful for today now that these precious souls are once again free.

But that thankfulness comes with responsibility, just as Avinatan Or said, and a dire need for intense prayer from all the world, that such a travesty will never, EVER, happen again.

That’s exactly why our Covenant Journey program, which brings college- aged Christian students to Israel, is so important. Especially in this time of rabid antisemitism around the globe, and on our college campuses, it is more important than ever to instill a love for Israel and the Jewish people in our own young people.

These immersive tours strengthen their Christian faith and equip them to be Goodwill Ambassadors for Israel, so that “Never Again” never happens again.

Please fund our work supporting the Holy Land with your direct financial support. And now, you can join our recurring gift campaign to receive our best books on Israel FREE! Please, give generously today!

And finally, please join me in praying fervently for these three things, today and every day until Israel is safe.

1. That every terrorist will be eradicated from Gaza, despite United Nation interference, and peace shall reign in the region.

2. That Iran will never, ever, complete or receive a nuclear weapon.

3. That the butchers who tortured these young people, solely because they are Jewish, will never be rewarded with a “Palestinian State.”

4. That “Never Again” never ever happens again.

May God bless you for standing with Israel!

 SOURCES:

American Jewish Committee (@AJCGlobal). “Noa Argamani and Avinatan Or Speech at the JFederations Jewish Assembly.” X, November 18, 2025, 11:13 a.m. X.com/AJCGlobal/status/1990815687195898068.

American Jewish Committee (@AJCGlobal). "The Sound of Freedom!” Facebook, November 2025. Facebook.com/reel/2236105376866564.
‌Brown, Hannah. “Former hostages Noa Argamani, Avinatan Or reunited after two years apart – comment.” The Jerusalem Post, October 14, 2025. JPost.com/israel-news/article-870375.

“It’s Not Only the Hostages — It’s Us Too Sivan Rahav-Meir.” Sivan Rahav-Meir, October 19, 2025. Sivanrahavmeir.com/the-daily-thought/its-not-only-the-hostages-its-us-too/.

Steinberg, Jessica. “‘Everything’s Getting Better from Here On’: Released Hostage Alon Ohel Cheered Home.” The Times of Israel, October 24, 2025. Timesofisrael.com/released-hostage-alon-ohel-returns-home-to-cheers-by-supporters/.

“They Just Came Back from Gaza and Their Stories Will Make You Cry.” Chabad.org. Accessed November 25, 2025. Chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/7077025/jewish/They-Just-Came-Back-from-Gaza-and-Their-Stories-Will-Make-You-Cry.htm.

“Wounded Oct. 7 Survivor Weds Longtime Partner.” JNS, October 1, 2025. JNS.org/wounded-oct-7-survivor-weds-longtime-partner/.