The exhibition 'Experience of Captivity' which, according to Israeli ambassador in Bucharest Reuven Azar, depicts a fragment of the appalling experience of the Israeli civilians kidnapped during the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, opened on Friday in Bucharest's Izvor Park.
Inside a demonstrative container with the walls covered with photos of the hostages and containing a mock of a cell where they are kept, the exhibition reproduces their inhuman detention conditions. In the dark space furnished just with a toilet bowl and a mattress with a teddy bear, play sounds from the places attacked by Hamas in the morning of October 7 - screams and gunshots. Opposite the mattress that sits in the dark, photos of the kidnapped are beamed, accompanied by the text "Bring Them Home".
Ambassador of Israel in Bucharest Reuven Azar, who was the first to visit the exhibition, confessed that he and his wife were shocked by what they saw, but that this is only a tiny shred of what the Israeli civilians kidnapped by Hamas have experienced since October 7: the fear for their own lives, the inhumane conditions, fear for their loved ones, uncertainty about their own fate, the abuses related by the rescued hostages, the terrible conditions they experienced.
He mentioned that there are still 120 Israeli civilian hostages in Gaza, apart from the 130 recovered ones - unfortunately not all of them alive. This is a good reason why the military operation in Gaza should continue, because we want to make sure that we bring all the hostages home and that nobody will be able to do something like this again in the future or inflict similar harm on our citizens in Israel. Therefore we are resolved not only to bring the hostages home, but to fight Hamas and eradicate its military force, because they are determined not only to keep the hostages, but also to continue their attacks, and they have declared that they want to do this until the State of Israel is completely destroyed, the ambassador pointed out.
We don't yet see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we want to invite the public in Romania, which supported the State of Israel, to see what these hostages are going through. (...) Nine months after its onset, people tend to forget about the war. That's why we brought this container to Bucharest, which was itinerated through Europe, said Reuven Azar.
Ana Maita, president of the Mothers for Mothers Association and co-organizer, said that the exhibition is "a cry for help from the families of these innocent people, so that the world does not forget them. Let us not forget their torment, we shouldn't allow the routine and breaking news wipe them off our minds, because they and their families are still suffering terribly."
The "Experience of Captivation" exhibition can be visited on Friday between 17:00 - 20:00; Saturday & Sunday, 10:00 to 13:00, and 17:00 - 20:00, in three-minute tours.
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