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Fetterman calls for immediate release of hostages held by Hamas

The Pennsylvania senator met with survivors of the attack and families of those still held hostage.

Michal Cotler-Wunsh and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) at his offices, where he has hung posters of those kidnapped by Hamas and being held captive in the Gaza Strip, on Oct. 26, 2023. Source: X.
Michal Cotler-Wunsh and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) at his offices, where he has hung posters of those kidnapped by Hamas and being held captive in the Gaza Strip, on Oct. 26, 2023. Source: X.
Michal Cotler-Wunsh and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) at his offices, where he has hung posters of those kidnapped by Hamas and being held captive in the Gaza Strip, on Oct. 26, 2023. Source: X.
Michal Cotler-Wunsh and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) at his offices, where he has hung posters of those kidnapped by Hamas and being held captive in the Gaza Strip, on Oct. 26, 2023. Source: X.

On a trip to the United States, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, Israel’s special envoy for combating antisemitism, visited the offices of Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), where 17 posters show civilians kidnapped and being held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. She posted a photo on Twitter of the two of them on Thursday.

Cotler-Wunsh thanked the legislator for his “moral clarity and courage to unequivocally condemn genocidal Hamas—that on Oct 7 made clear—terror can NEVER be appeased in its barbaric murder, rape, burning, abduction of our civilization.”

Fetterman has demanded the immediate return of all hostages without conditions and opposes calls for a ceasefire.

“We must support Israel in their efforts to eliminate the Hamas terrorists who slaughtered innocent men, women, and children. Hamas does not want peace, they want to destroy Israel. We can talk about a ceasefire after Hamas is neutralized,” Fetterman said on Oct. 18.

On Oct. 25, he shared that he had met with survivors from the Oct. 7 attack and families of those held hostage by the terrorist organization. He said that the posters already hung outside his office were just the beginning—that “every last one” would go up next.

“Thanks for standing up and calling out the antisemitic hate that fueled the atrocities of Oct 7, and unfathomable responses that deny, excuse and attack Jews in their wake,” Cotler-Wunsh wrote. “There are NO two sides.”

An American fighter jet hit the Panama-flagged ship with a “precision munition, fully disabling the ship’s propulsion without harming the crew,” U.S. Central Command said.
“Your ability to find the strength to rise above the pain, to combat the immediate threat to your life, and to operate sound judgment demonstrates the strength of your character,” Israel’s president wrote.
“We tried to make it clear to them that this is a memorial that was built for those who died in a horrible terrorist attack,” Lawrence Puccini told JNS.
Israel assailed the decision as a “grotesque weaponization of an award to legitimize anti-Israel hatred and prejudice.”