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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.”
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Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted,” while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch.
Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement – which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza – with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.
The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for Saturday’s attack, adding that it fired a missile towards the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
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Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel
People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.
Mass prayers were later held in the square.
State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.
In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.
“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honor and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.
There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.
Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
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Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said it aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.
Bagheri, Salami and Hajizadeh were killed on June 13, the first day of the war. Bagheri was being buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery outside Tehran mid-afternoon on Saturday. Salami and Hajizadeh were due to be buried on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would consider bombing Iran again, while Khamenei, who has appeared in two pre-recorded video messages since the start of the war, has said Iran would respond to any future US attack by striking US military bases in the Middle East.
A senior Israeli military official said on Friday that Israel had delivered a “major blow” to Iran’s nuclear project. On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Israel and the US “failed to achieve their stated objectives” in the war.
According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the war before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday. More than 4,700 were injured.
Activist news agency HRANA put the number of killed at 974, including 387 civilians.
Israel’s health ministry said 28 were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.
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Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival
Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
i24 News – Chants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.
One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.
This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.
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