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Shabbat tables in Times Square set with 224 empty seats represent hostages held by Hamas
(New York Jewish Week) — In front of a long U-shaped table in Times Square, set for 224 people, a crowd began to sing happy birthday for a 12-year-old boy named Erez.
Thursday was Erez’s birthday, but the gathering was no celebration. Erez, along with his sister and father Sahar and Ofer Calderon, are three of the more than 200 hostages taken by Hamas in the terror group’s Oct. 7 invasion of Israel. Erez’s grandmother and cousin were killed.
And the song was led by Omer Lubaton-Granot, an Israeli activist in New York who has his own connection to the hostages — four of his relatives were taken captive. Two others are dead.
“Erez, we want you to hear us all the way from New York. We’re celebrating your birthday here and we’ll soon celebrate your freedom,” he said. “Your mother deserves to hug you on your birthday and you deserve her hug and we will do whatever we can to make it happen.”
The settings at the table, along with their empty seats, represent each of Hamas’ captives in Gaza. The Israeli-American Council organized the event to push for the release of the hostages and raise awareness of their plight. It’s meant as a Shabbat table and is one of a series that have been symbolically set for the hostages in cities across the United States, Israel and around the world. In other displays, strollers or teddy bears have been arrayed to represent the captive children.
At the head of this one, in Duffy Square, a wooden high chair bore the picture of a 9-month-old Israeli baby named Kfir, beneath the word “kidnapped.” On the table was a pink plate for a child, a loaf of challah and an array of violet and white flowers.
A separate table for kids was set in the middle of the U-shaped table. Baby bottles lay on the center table next to pastel-colored plates. Splayed out on the pavement were teddy bears, their eyes blindfolded.
“My cousin, her children, 200 other people are trapped and we don’t know where they are,” Navé Strauss, a New Yorker whose relatives are being held in Gaza, told the crowd. “Repeat the call, lay the pressure on everybody in a position of power, anybody in the position to negotiate for their freedom today, right now. Bring them home.”
An empty shabbat table symbolizing the over 200 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, in Times Square, New York City, October 27, 2023. (Luke Tress)
Hundreds of Israelis and supporters ringed the display as passersby stopped to take photos. Some of the Israelis handed out fliers and engaged with tourists, explaining the meaning of the exhibit, which stood in the square for five hours.
There were no significant counter-protests, though a brief scuffle broke out when a passerby grabbed a man’s Israeli flag. Police quickly separated the pair. Several people spoke out against the demonstration, touching a nerve for the participants.
“Everything that’s happening and you’re still supporting Israel?” one woman shouted.
“They’re kids. How do you live with yourself?” an attendee responded.
The fliers affixed to the chairs, which were designed by the Israeli artist Nitzan Mintz and her partner, who goes by the name Dede Bandaid, have also become a point of contention The posters have been plastered around New York City and other cities worldwide, and anti-Israel activists have torn them down or defaced them. In New York City this week, someone pasted the word “occupier” over the label “kidnapped” on a poster bearing the name and photo of a child, suggesting that they shouldn’t be viewed as a civilian.
The hostages have now been in captivity for 20 days. Hamas has released four in a move the terror group depicted as a humanitarian gesture but that has been seen widely as a public relations ploy. The Israeli American Council held a rally attended by thousands in Times Square last week and vowed to continue holding events until the hostages are released. Thursday’s event was backed by an array of Jewish groups including the UJA-Federation New York, the World Jewish Congress, the American Jewish Committee New York and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York.
In addition to the Israeli hostages, nationals from dozens of other countries are held by Hamas in Gaza.
“Behind the staggering number of hostages, 224 and counting, there are individual lives and families,” Lubaton-Granot said. “Every minute that passes without their loved ones is pure agony.”
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The post Shabbat tables in Times Square set with 224 empty seats represent hostages held by Hamas appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.