Shiri Bibas: Why Her Family’s Story Is So Significant In The Telling Of The Israel-Hamas Conflict And The October 7 Massacre – And What Ariel and Kfir’s Manner Of Death Says About Hamas’ Cruelty

At the very end of my previous post, with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds being the main subject matter, I mentioned Hamas, given that Lively and her husband were allegedly compared to the terrorist organization by Justin Baldoni’s producer, Steve Sarowitz. In the new complaint filed by Lively following the SNL 50 celebratory event, Lively alleged that Sarowitz once said, ‘I will protect the studio like Israel protected itself from Hamas. There were 39,000 dead bodies. There will be two dead bodies when I’m done. Minimum. Not dead, but ‘you’re dead to me.’ So that kind of dead. But dead to a lot of people. If they ever get me to that point. Then I’ll make it worth their while. Because I’m gonna spend a lot of money to make sure the studio is protected.’

There’s a lot that could be said about the ongoing Lively vs. Baldoni legal battle, which I have in at least 5 or so previous blog entries just in the past half a year. I’ve also written about the Israel-Hamas war that is happening right now in a blog entry with Gal Gadot as the subject matter. I wasn’t initially going to get into politics on this blog, but given just how important for this conversation to be had, I just couldn’t avoid it. Israel is my country. Israel is where I was born. Israel is my home. I have to defend it. With that being said, if you’re pro-Palestine and don’t feel comfortable with this type of content, I suggest you leave. But thanks for being here regardless.

So much has happened since the blog entry on Gal Gadot was published – some good news, some bad news, and some horrible, heartbreaking, shattering news. For those of you that have been in living under a rock these past 17 months, on October 7, 2023, Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza Envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab–Israeli war. This war is now the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, with 1,200 Israeli civilians being killed, and 251 being taken hostage. In response, Israel launched a massive military campaign against Hamas which has killed at least 48,319 Palestinians – mainly civilians – according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. There have now been freed hostages in cease-fire exchanges, including one in November 2023, as well as one happening now as of the publishing of this post. Freed hostages include Mia Schem, Liri Albag, Emily Damari, Doron Steinbrecher, Romi Gonen, Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Agam Berger, Arbel Yehoud, Gadi Moses, Keith Siegel, Ofer Kalderon and his family, released a year apart, Eli Sharabi, whose wife and two daughters were murdered on October 7, Or Levy, who witnessed his wife’s murder before being taken hostage and son was being cared for by his brother, Ohad Ben Ami, Alexander “Sasha” Troufanov, whose grandmother, mom, and girlfriend were also taken hostage and released, whereas his father was murdered on October 7, Sagui Dekel-Chen, whose third child was born while he was in captivity, and Yair Horn. Just yesterday, on February 28, Tsahi Idan was laid to rest. On October 7, he, along with his wife and two younger children, witnessed his eldest daughter be murdered by Hamas. The captors took his wife’s phone, filmed the family crying out for their lives, and streamed it online. They then took the family hostage to Gaza. His family was released in November, and while he was murdered in captivity. His body was released, and he was laid to rest beside his daughter.

And then there’s Yarden Bibas. He was also taken hostage on October 7, and was released on February 1, 2025. He was taken hostage separately from his wife, Shiri Bibas, and two children, 4 year old Ariel and 9 month old Kfir. Please believe me when I say that no one, and I mean no one, has ever endured what Yarden Bibas had to endure – in captivity and in life. Yarden was separated from his family after he was trying to distract his captors from taking Shiri and the boys away. They were taken anyways, and the captors even filmed her crying out for her freedom while helplessly holding her sons and trying to protect them.

I watched the video. It still lives in my head rent-free. It was gut-wrenching. As I watched her cries, I felt every single emotion that she felt, especially as a mother. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the fear and the agony that she must’ve experienced in that moment of being taken away from her home to Gaza, not knowing what the future would look like for her and her kids, not knowing how to keep them safe, not knowing whether she’d ever come home again to see her family. And the kids – innocent little kids – they looked on, not understanding what was happening to them. A terrified Shiri was clinging tightly to her children wrapped in a blanket, with Ariel still sucking his pacifier. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) later released another video, which they said showed Shiri and the two boys alive in southern Gaza on October 7. The footage showed Shiri, still holding her children, wrapped in a blanket carrying a child being ordered around by armed militants before being put in a car and driven away.

On October 7, Shiri’s parents, Yossi Silberman and Margit Silberman, were murdered, leaving sister Dana as the sole survivor. Yossi and Margit’s bodies were only identified on October 21. Hamas even murdered the family dog. In November 2023, Israel and Hamas made a deal that during the temporary ceasefire, living women and children were to be released first. Shiri and the boys were not set free. This left a devastating mark on the entire Jewish nation around the world. Hamas insisted that the two Bibas children and their mother were killed in an Israeli airstrike, without providing evidence. Israel never confirmed their deaths. The IDF said at that time they believed the family was being held by other militant groups, not Hamas. A few days after making the claim about the Bibas family, Hamas released a video of Yarden, the father, in which he blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the deaths of his wife and two children. He was also told by Hamas in the video that his family had been murdered. He was initially told that his family was safe in Tel Aviv.

Hamas said in November that they were willing to release the bodies of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir in exchange for prisoners held in Israel. This was refused as it was believed this was made into another way to emotionally abuse and torment the family, as well as the entire nation. Hope wasn’t lost that Yarden, Shiri, and the boys would come out of Gaza alive. For 16 long and agonizing months, Israel and Jews around the world were advocating for the family’s safe return. The next ceasefire was announced, and the entire family was on the list of hostages to be released in phase 1. Again, just as Israel and Hamas agreed, women and children would be released first. As more and more women were released, Shiri and the boys were nowhere to be found. And suddenly, men were being released, including Yarden. As more male hostages were released, the Jewish nation still awaited for the release of Shiri and the boys. We all wanted to believe they were alive, but as more time passed, the more it seemed unlikely. Nevertheless, the Bibas family never lost hope.

Initially, on November 22, 2023, Israel agreed to release 150 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons, in exchange for Hamas agreeing to release 50 Israeli women and children. Shiri and her children were expected to be released, but weren’t. On 29 November, Hamas’ armed wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, said Shiri and her children had been killed in Israeli bombing of Gaza. On 1 December, Israel considered it a violation of the framework that they were not released. After the brothers were not freed during the temporary ceasefire, their relatives launched a campaign demanding their release. When Hamas offered to return the bodies of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir, Israel refused, demanding that living hostages be returned first.

On February 18, 2025, Hamas announced that the bodies of four hostages would be released that Thursday. The four bodies included Shiri and the boys. The fourth body was of Oded Lifshitz, a journalist and peace activist who worked for Road to Recovery, an Israeli organization which helps aid Palestinian citizens in need of medical care in getting transportation to Israeli hospitals across the border. The handover was performed as a two-step process, with the first step being a handover of coffins from Hamas to the Red Cross, with the handover from the Red Cross to the IDF performed in a second step. In the first step, the four coffins were brought to a stage in Khan Younis wrapped in black with labels bearing the deceased names and pictures, and placed in front of a poster bearing the image of Netanyahu as a vampire with the four deceased superimposed. The poster blamed Netanyahu and Israel for the deaths of the four hostages. Shiri’s coffin included a picture of her, as well as the ‘Date of arrest’ written under it marked as October 7. Kfir’s coffin had his picture with Ariel’s name written under it. The coffins were provided to Israel locked, without keys. At the ceremony, Palestinians, including Palestinian children, were cheering on dead bodies of an elderly, a woman, and two children.

Following an autopsy done on the remains, Oded, Kfir, and Ariel were positively identified. It was reported that the two children, who were the youngest hostages taken by Hamas, were brutally murdered by their captors’ bare hands no later than in November 2023, and later ‘committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities’. IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a statement:

‘The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys – they killed them with their bare hands. Afterwards, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities. This assessment is based on forensic findings and intelligence that supports these conclusions. We have shared this intelligence and the forensic findings with our partners around the world so they can verify it.

The entire world must know exactly how the Hamas terrorist organization operates. Ariel and Kfir were murdered, and then yesterday, their bodies were returned in a cynical and cruel ceremony in Gaza. Shiri Bibas, who was meant to be returned with her children to Israel as part of the agreement, was not returned by Hamas. Hamas lied and violated the agreement.

The body that Hamas falsely claimed was Shiri’s was not hers, nor was it any other hostage. Instead, Hamas sent over the body of an unidentified woman. This is yet more evidence of Hamas’s barbaric cruelty.’

The fourth body that was claimed to be Shiri’s was, in fact, not hers. It was of an unknown Palestinian woman, and not of any hostages remaining in captivity. Hamas claimed they knew nothing of the mix-up, and returned the body that belonged to Shiri the following day. After conducting an autopsy on her remains, it was reported that there were no signs Shiri died as a result of a bombing. Instead, she died a brutal death. It wasn’t revealed how exactly Shiri was murdered, but we do know that Ariel and Kfir were manually choked to death. This information was made public as Yarden specifically wanted the entire world to know how his children were slaughtered. They weren’t starved to death. They weren’t shot. They were strangled by the bare hands of their captors. And most likely, Shiri was forced to watch the entire ordeal unfold before she was killed herself. Even after knowing what had happened to the Bibas children and the manner of their deaths, there was still a slight hope that Shiri was alive. As a mother, I don’t think she’d even want to be alive after being forced to witness such horror, knowing there was nothing she could’ve done to protect them.

Following the release of the four deceased hostages, Hamas released 6 living hostages that Saturday. These were Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, Tal Shohan, and Omer Wenkert, all of whom were kidnapped on October 7. The other 2 hostages released were Ethiopian-Israeli Avera Mengitsu, who was captured by Hamas in 2014, and Hisham al-Sayed, a Bedouin Arab-Israeli held in Gaza since 2015. Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, two hostages still in captivity, were forced to watch the terrorist organization’s staged release ceremony for three freed hostages. In a video released by Hamas, the two hostages were asked ‘how they feel’ about they witnessed their friends being freed. Following the release of the video, which was approved by the hostages’ families to be made public, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement, ‘In addition to the inhumane physical conditions in captivity, as evidenced by the testimonies of the returnees, the abductees experience severe and cruel psychological abuse. They are running out of time! The Israeli government and its leader must accelerate the negotiations and bring about the immediate return of all the abductees, without any delays.’ The freed hostages were also forced to kiss their captors on their foreheads during the ceremony.

Though the release of the 6 living hostages was, of course, a reason for celebration, the Jewish nation just couldn’t stop thinking about the fates of Shiri Bibas and her children. For the past several weeks, we all, or at least all of us who are on Israel’s side, impatiently await for the release of hostages. First, we await to see who will be released, and then impatiently wait to see the freed hostages reunite with their families. The Saturday of February 22 was very different. The revelation of the deaths of Shiri and her children overshadowed the release of the 6 hostages. Of course there were so many reasons to celebrate and cry tears of joy with the freed hostages and their families. We just couldn’t. We were still grieving the deaths of the fallen mother and children. Our hearts were broken. Our dreams were shattered. We were all blindsided by Hamas and their cruelty.

Last year’s Oscar ceremony showcased pro-Palestine Hollywood stars by having them wear a pin of a red right hand meant to valorize the murderers of Jews. Stars like Mark Ruffalo, Billie Eilish, Ava DuVerna wore such pins. I was very disappointed to know that Mark Ruffalo was on Palestine’s side. I’ve been such a big fan of his. ‘13 Going On 30’ was my all-time favourite movie, and I was so excited when Ryan Reynolds got him and Jennifer Garner to reunite in his movie in 2022’s ‘The Adam Project’. Other pro-Palestine stars include Susan Sarandon, Hunter Schafer, Bella Hadid, Pedro Pascal, Cynthia Nixon, Bradley Cooper, Jenna Ortega, Renee Rapp, Angelina Jolie, The Weeknd, and more. I wonder what they think of the terrorist organization they support murdering children as young as 10 months old in such a cold blooded manner. Kfir and Ariel weren’t the only children Hamas murdered. They were just the youngest. And many of these celebrities who support Hamas have children of their own. It’s a confusing situation; for me anyways. I’m big lover of movies TV, music and entertainment as a whole. To know that so many of them support Hamas while they don’t even know or fully understand the history behind it is gut-wrenching.

In my previous post on Gal Gadot supporting Israel and having to work with someone who didn’t, I wrote that Gigi Hadid, even though she’s part Palestinian, showed support to Israel in the war between Israel and Hamas. I’d like to retell that tale. Hadid also posted on social media something so condescending when the war just started in 2023. She initially read a graphic that read, ‘There is nothing Jewish about the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians. Condemning the Israeli government is not antisemitic and supporting Palestinians is not supporting Hamas.’ The State Of Israel then wrote in reaction to Hadid’s post, ‘Have you been sleeping the past week? Or are you just fine turning a blind eye to Jewish babies being butchered in their homes? Your silence has been very clear about where you stand. We see you. There is nothing valiant about Hamas’ massacre of Israelis. Condemning Hamas for what it is (ISIS) is not anti-Palestine and supporting Israelis in their fight against barbaric terrorists is the right thing to do. If you don’t condemn this your words mean nothing.’

The statement Hadid made that I initially talked about in my post on Gal Gadot read in part, ‘I have deep empathy and heartbreak for the Palestinian struggle and life under occupation, it’s a responsibility I hold daily. I also feel a responsibility to my Jewish friends to make it clear, as I have before: While I have hopes and dreams for Palestinians, none of them include the harm of a Jewish person. The terrorizing of innocent people is not in alignment with and does not do any good for the ‘Free Palestine’ movement.’ Though I, as an Israeli woman, appreciated this portion of her testament, I didn’t certainly didn’t appreciate her initial social media activity that even the State Of Israel’s official Instagram account had to respond to. Not only that, but she and her sister, Bella, donated $1 million to Palestinian aid agencies in June 2024. What about Israel?!

It’s hard to be Jewish in 2025. It’s meant that we’re a crushing disappointment in the world since the Hamas attacks that started this war. When the news first broke of Yarden Bibas’ entire family’s death, The New York Times wrote an article with the headline, ‘For many Israelis, the story of the Bibas family has become a symbol of the brutality of the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack.’ But why only Israelis? Shouldn’t their brutal deaths mean something to everyone around the world? Anyone who cares a whit for justice and human decency should find meaning in the deaths of Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir. With that being said, the headline for the article should’ve read, ‘For everyone, the story of the Bibas family has become a symbol of the brutality of the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack.’

Everyone around the world should’ve been moved by the story of the Bibas family. Kfir’s face, in particular, became a symbol of the conflict because it represented a line that had been crossed and cannot be uncrossed – with him being the youngest hostage to be taken away on October 7. It shouldn’t be only Jews who see Kfir Bibas’s smiling face and bright red hair when they close their eyes. In that famous picture of baby Bibas, he is holding a small pink stuffed elephant. Kfir’s relatives spent over a year searching the rubble of Nir Oz, where the family lived, for that pink elephant. They finally found it inJanuary, and his aunt hoped would be a ‘good sign’. How much does one have to hate Jews to side with the monsters who kidnap and murder babies? A lot, and it’s become impossible for the rest of us to pretend that we didn’t see our society, whether in person or online, rush to cross that line and cheer the people who kidnapped and murdered a baby.

The ceremony Hamas held when they released the four hostages that were Oded, Ariel, Kfir, and what they claimed to be Shiri was unforgettable. People cheering on the dead. People cheering on the dead elderly, the dead woman, and the slaughtered children while holding their own children. We also saw older children cheering on. Forget the fact that they were cheering on dead Jews. They were cheering on a dead elderly, a dead woman, and dead babies. These are the people that those who are pro-Palestine keep on defending. These are the people who are pro-Palestine donate their money to. It’s absolutely sickening. It’s despicable. Just like Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote on X, ‘Agony. Pain. There are no words.’ Good people don’t kidnap children. Good people don’t murder children, especially in the manner that Ariel and Kfir were killed. Good people don’t kidnap mothers. Good people don’t torture mothers. Good people don’t murder mothers. Good people don’t keep civilians hostage and torture them for more than 500 days. Why is this not common sense by now?

A lot of the times, us Jews and Israelis are told to just shut the f*ck up. But why? Why should we shut the f*ck up. If we don’t stand up for ourselves, no one else will. If we’re not loud enough, no one will hear. If we’re not persistent enough, no one will listen. If we’re not angry enough, no one will care. This is our reality. Seth Mandel, senior editor of Commentary magazine said, ‘In a better world, the faces of the Bibas children would be everywhere at all times. In the world in which we live, by contrast, posters with those faces get torn down from bulletin boards. . . . The crimes against the Bibas family are indeed the symbol of the anti-civilizational menace that is Hamas—but also of the cowardice of the political and cultural leaders of the enlightened West. . . . It is impossible for the rest of us to pretend that we didn’t see a chunk of society, whether in person or online, rush to cross that line and cheer on the people who kidnapped two babies . . . .Kfir became a symbol because he is the answer to every relevant question about this conflict. His case is the war boiled down to its essence. Kfir is the dividing line. In a better world, there’d be no one standing on the wrong side of it.’

I’ve personally had friendships end because we were on different sides of the coin in the Israel-Hamas war happening now. If these people were faced with such terror, they’d be the first ones to be murdered by the people that they keep on defending. Kfir and Ariel weren’t Zionists. Kfir and Ariel weren’t criminals. Kfir and Ariel weren’t enemies. Kfir and Ariel weren’t occupants. Are the people that I once used to know really going to defend those who kidnapped and murdered these two, as well as more on October 7, innocent souls? In Canada alone, data showed in 2024 that the Jewish community victimized in 70% of all religion-motivated hate crimes in Canada . This is telling, especially considering the Jewish community represents only 1% of the Canadian population. According the report:

• In 2023, there were 4,777 police-reported hate crimes (all categories), a 32 percent increase over 2022.
• Although the Jewish community accounts for less than 1 percent of Canada’s population, 19 percent of all hate crimes were motivated by antisemitism.
• The Jewish community was the most targeted religious minority, accounting for 70 percent of religiously motivated hate. 
• Hate crimes against the Jewish population increased 71 percent from 2022 to 2023. 
• Of the 1,284 religiously motivated hate crimes in 2023 (67 percent increase year over year), 900 targeted the Jewish community. 
• There were more than 4 times as many antisemitic hate crimes as the second-most targeted religious minority (Muslim). 
• According to the 2021 Canadian Census, 0.9 percent of the population identified as Jewish, whereas Islam was the second-most commonly reported religion, accounting for 4.9 percent, or nearly 1.8 million Muslims.
• Anti-Jewish hate crime has increased 172 percent since 2020. 

What does it say about our society? Time and time again, I’ve written how tough it is to be a woman. I’ve written about how tough it is to be a disabled woman. But never have I written about how tough it is to be Jewish; about how tough it is to be an Israeli disabled woman. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel the hardship. It was rather that I didn’t feel I had enough to say about the matter. Now, more than a year following the October 7 massacre, I realize that there’s actually SO MUCH to say, and if I don’t start talking, even if it’s just at a minimum, it’ll be one less important voice to be heard to advocate for the Jewish and the Israeli community. I’m proud to be Jewish. I’m proud to be Israeli. There’s no reason for me to keep quiet at a time like this. I don’t care if I offend anyone; not anymore.

But the story of the Bibas family didn’t just touch my heart because I’m Jewish or Israeli. It touched me because I’m human. I’ve recently had a tough period in my life, with me being physically disabled and chronically ill, me being a mother to my son, and still having to parent while being chronically ill. My son has also had his ups and downs in recent months, which made it that much harder to make decisions for him that could affect his entire life. At some point, I felt like I was on the verge of a breakdown. Then I had an epiphany…

There are people like Yarden Bibas who only wish to have the problems and hardships that I do now. My son was born only a couple of months before Kfir did, and I just can’t imagine, nor I even want to imagine, what Shiri Bibas must’ve endured at the hands of Hamas, especially knowing what we know now in Kfir’s manner of death. I recently went through my son’s photos from the time he was the same age as Kfir was when he was abducted and murdered, and I couldn’t help but feel privileged and the outmost gratitude to have the hardships that I do now, and it’s all thanks to the heartbreaking story of the Bibas family. Life isn’t black or white. It’s messy. It’s hard. Everything is so chaotic and messy in the world, but there’s always hope of a clean slate. Changing your circumstances might bd impossible. That’s why changing your attitude is vital. As Robin Sharma said, ‘Change is hard at first, messy in the middle, and gorgeous at the end.’ Now that the Bibas family is officially gone, we must be the change and not let them die in vain. We must advocate for better days. The time is NOW to speak up. This is OUR story. This is OUR truth. If not now, then when?