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Jewish Dancer, Activist Montana Tucker Releases Tribute Video for the Remaining Gaza Hostages
Montana Tucker and dancers from the Sol Dance Academy in a still from their dance video released on Dec. 17, 2024. Photo: Screenshot
Jewish American social media influencer, dancer, actress, and singer Montana Tucker published a dance video Monday on social media in tribute to the 100 hostages who remain held captive by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip more than 14 months after being abducted on Oct. 7, 2023.
The video begins with Tucker resembling a hostage who is held captive alone in a room in Gaza. She is then joined by 35 members of the Sol Dance Academy in Israel and together they dance in the same room, as well as in a tunnel, to a rendition of the Destiny’s Child song “Survivor.” Three released hostages — Moran Stella Yanai, Raz Ben Ami, and Hila Rotem Shoshani — make an appearance in the video, as well as family members of current hostages Ohad Ben Ami, Shlomo Manzur, and Yossi and Eli Sharabi. The video also show images of all the remaining hostages.
“It is simply unfathomable to me that more than 400 days after October 7th, 100 Israeli men, women, and children who were taken that day are still not home,” Tucker said in a released statement. “We cannot let the world forget them and their suffering, and this is why I’m dedicated to using my influence to tell their stories and make sure their freedom remains an international priority.”
Tucker shared the dance video on social media on Monday and wrote in the caption: “A SURVIVORS story isn’t complete until EVERYONE is FREE … This tribute is a celebration of SURVIVAL and a plea for FREEDOM. Every hostage deserves to become a SURVIVOR. We will NOT stop until they are ALL home.”
“Imagine peacefully going to bed one evening to then being woken up early the next morning with sirens going off and terrorists brutally attacking your home/communitties,” she additionally wrote in the caption. “Then, no matter how hard you try to resist, you are kidnapped. Next, imagine that 437 days have passed and you are still not home. Three of the women featured in this video survived the horrors of Hamas captivity but 100 other innocent souls — women, babies, young men, and elderly — also deserve to come home and reclaim their lives.”
The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), which initiated and produced the video, said Tucker and dancers from the Sol Dance Academy delivered “a resonating message of survival and resilience” in Monday’s video.
In June, Tucker and CAM released the dance video “We Can Dance Again,” which was dedicated to the 364 people murdered at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7 last year during the Hamas-led terrorist attack in southern Israel. The video garnered more than 10 million views across various social media platforms.
After the release of the new dance video on Monday, CAM CEO Sacha Roytman applauded on Tucker’s efforts to speak out publicly about the aftermath of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack last year and publicize the need for the return of the remaining hostages.
“Since October 7th, at great personal sacrifice, Montana Tucker has emerged as one of the leading young voices for the Jewish people globally,” Roytman said. “We are proud to have brought her to Israel twice already in the past year to witness firsthand the aftermath of that horrible day, show solidarity with the victims of the attack, and facilitate her advocacy for the hostages, and we believe this video is an important initiative in the effort to return them to their families.”
The post Jewish Dancer, Activist Montana Tucker Releases Tribute Video for the Remaining Gaza Hostages first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.