Lishay Miran-Lavi stood before cameras this week and did what every patriotic spouse would do: she refused to forget and she demanded action. Marking the two-year anniversary of the brutal Oct. 7, 2023 terror onslaught, she pleaded for the safe return of her husband, Omri, and the dozens of other Israelis still held by Hamas. Her quiet courage should shame any politician who treats these families as a talking point instead of a national emergency.
Omri was seized from the family home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz during the massacre, leaving Lishay to raise their two daughters while clinging to the slim signals the captors occasionally allow to leak out. Families mark birthdays with candles blown out for fathers in darkness, a small act of defiance that doubles as a gut-punch to anyone who can still claim this is merely a distant foreign problem. These are American allies, innocent civilians, and neighbors who deserve a government that puts winning and rescue above sound bites.
Let there be no doubt about the facts: Oct. 7 was not a skirmish but an act of terror that killed well over a thousand Israelis and left scores in captivity, carried out by an Iran-backed Hamas intent on Israel’s destruction. Two years on, the war grinds forward, negotiations sputter, and too many hostages remain in subterranean tunnels with dwindling hope. If our leaders truly believe in peace through strength, they will stop diluting the moral clarity of this fight and demand the return of every hostage without rewarding barbarism.
Americans should also be wary of complacency at home: weakness invites more aggression and costs innocent lives. Lishay and other family members have publicly warned that military plans could imperil the remaining captives, a horror no free country should accept without exhausting every diplomatic and pressure lever first. That means real leverage against Hamas’s sponsors, full backing for Israeli operations that prioritize hostage rescue, and an unflinching refusal to normalize terror as a bargaining chip.
On this solemn anniversary, our duty is simple and absolute: stand with those who suffer, hold leaders accountable, and never forget the names of the missing. The American people must demand steady, principled support for our friends in Israel and relentless efforts to bring every hostage home alive. Until the last family is reunited, we owe Lishay, Omri, and every grieving household our voice, our votes, and our unyielding resolve.
