Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs attends event for Jewish community coping as Hamas holds hostages

The Arizona Capitol on Friday afternoon was the site of an Israeli grassroots commemoration in honor of more than 200 people who have been held hostage in Gaza after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the Israel-Hamas war.

Hundreds of local attendees included cross-sections of the Jewish communities from Orthodox to Hasidic.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs joined the event, alongside organizers and leaders of the Jewish community, to vocalize her support.

"Today I want to make it clear that Arizona is a place for everyone, and hatred of any kind against any individual will not be tolerated," Hobbs said. The governor condemned the Oct. 7 attacks and expressed her condolences to the growing number of victims.

"These are children, parents, grandparents, neighbors, they're people like you and me whose lives have been ripped apart just because of who they are and where they live," Hobbs said.

"Let me be clear, this is a terrorist attack," she added.

Hobbs was joined by key organizers, event emcee Amir Glogau and Rabbi Pinchas Allouche of the Congregation Beth Tefillah in Scottsdale.

The tables were adorned with empty plates, glasses, and uncut loaves of traditional Jewish challah bread, which sat under small flags representing the different home countries of the hostages, such as Argentina, Spain, Canada and the United States.

Flyers with bold letters that read "kidnapped" listed the name, age and nationality of the hostages who span 30 different countries.

Hostages, victims and soldiers represented by families

Among the victims represented were family members who were directly impacted by the kidnappings. Sophie Plapp attended the event, holding one of the flyers for her cousin's 3-year-old granddaughter, Avigail Idan.

"Her parents were killed in front of her, and her brother and sister were hiding for 14 hours in the closet," Plapp said. "I don't have enough words for what the feeling is other than that her grandmother and I are second-generation Holocaust survivors, so all the stories our grandparents told us about the Nazis come back."

Avigail's brother and sister were rescued, but Avigail was among the many hostages who were honored at the event, and her fate remains unknown.

"People talk about humanitarian rights, the first humanitarian thing to do is release those hostages," Glogau said. "Every one of those hostages, keep in mind, comes from a family that has been destroyed right now, because most of them have had their family members die, their house burned."

The event, according to Glogau, exemplified the strength of a grassroots movement among regular Jewish individuals in Arizona. They united to raise awareness about the events following Oct. 7 and the Israel-Hamas war.

"I hope this support continues the way it is because we need to eliminate the threat we live under. We cannot continue to live under that threat," Glogau said.

Local high school student Noa Ozer, a member of the Israeli Scouts, a Jewish youth group, presented the account of a fellow teenager Amit Shani, one of the hostages.

Ozer shared that Shani should have been celebrating his birthday just two days ago. Instead, he is in an unknown condition after being ordered into a car at gunpoint by a kidnapper during the Oct. 7 attack.

"Amit lived in a beautiful, peaceful, Israeli kibbutz called Be'eri. The word 'Be'eri' holds a special meaning in my life since I am a part of the Be'eri group in the Israeli Scouts of Arizona for seven years now, and therefore, I feel as if it is my duty to share his story," Ozer said.

Fellow scouts Dana Ozer and Orian and Wandrove Shina, while holding back tears upon hearing the firsthand story, paid tribute to the many lives still facing an uncertain fate. They did this by performing a rendition of the Israeli national anthem with Cantor Ross Wolman on the guitar.

Earlier, Wolman sang a solo rendition of the United States' national anthem, symbolizing the strong and unwavering alliance between the two countries in support of the state of Israel.

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As the U.S. continues to debate support packages for Israel's fight against Hamas, Rabbi Allouche's son, Yisrael Allouche, was fighting in the newly started war.

"Ever since Saturday night when my son, a sniper in Paratrooper Unit 101 in the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces), texted us to tell us he is on the way, he couldn't tell us where, couldn't tell us exactly when, but 'on the way' we knew meant he was going into Gaza, to fight this war of good against evil," Allouche said to the audience.

Allouche said his son made contact with his family for the first time only hours before the event at the state Capitol, telling them stories of the horror of combat and a war that seems to only be increasing in scale.

"On Tuesday, he told me he saw his best friend die in his hands; Wednesday a bomb exploded next to him, and his good friend next to him was injured severely; on Thursday his friend and spotter became shell-shocked and had to be taken home," said Allouche, who described his son as a hero.

Allouche told The Arizona Republic that the best way to describe the event was "to support the forces of good versus the forces of evil in this world."

A table next to the stage displayed candles that were lit after the speaker portion of the event. This was done to mark the beginning of the Jewish Shabbat, which Rabbi Allouche described as an opportunity to "elevate ourselves from this world, into an island of time." During Shabbat, the primary goal is to spend time away from modern distractions and be with loved ones.

As the evening descended on the state Capitol, Hobbs left after the speakers concluded their addresses. However, most attendees engaged in quiet conversations as they observed the hundreds of empty seats in a sea of white and blue flags, symbolizing a sense of unity in an otherwise tragic time.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Gov. Hobbs attends pro-Israel event to remember Hamas hostages