The Israeli Hostage Who Refused to Embrace Revenge
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Sarah Wildman: I'm Sarah Wildman. I'm an editor and writer for New York Times Opinion.
I first met Liat Beinin Atzili a little over a year ago by email. I edited an essay she wrote about the concept of tekumah, or rebirth after the Holocaust. She is a Holocaust educator and a history teacher for teens. She's also a former hostage. She was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023. She was held for 54 days and released during a one-week truce agreement. Liat returned to a changed landscape. Her home burned, her family displaced and her husband, Aviv, murdered during the attacks.
Her family's efforts to bring her home are the story of a new documentary called 'Holding Liat.' In it we see both the efforts to secure her release and her return. After I watched the film, I couldn't stop thinking about how when Liat returned to Israel, she didn't turn away from Palestinians. She turned toward them, turning to her grief to find a path to peace and rejecting revenge.
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