{"id":27820,"date":"2025-05-20T17:43:48","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T21:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&p=27820"},"modified":"2025-05-20T17:43:48","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T21:43:48","slug":"watch-in-floor-speech-sen-ossoff-demands-release-of-evyatar-david-all-remaining-hostages-held-by-hamas","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/watch-in-floor-speech-sen-ossoff-demands-release-of-evyatar-david-all-remaining-hostages-held-by-hamas\/","title":{"rendered":"WATCH: In Floor Speech, Sen. Ossoff Demands Release of Evyatar David, All Remaining Hostages Held by Hamas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C. <\/strong>\u2014 In a solemn speech on the Senate Floor today, U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff demanded the release of Evyatar David and all the remaining hostages held in Gaza by Hamas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, Sen. Ossoff, alongside several synagogues and Jewish organizations across Atlanta, \u201cadopted\u201d Evyatar\u2019s case<\/a> to spread the word and advocate for his immediate release. Evyatar David was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, while attending the Nova Music Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here to watch Sen. Ossoff\u2019s floor remarks<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Read the full transcript of Sen. Ossoff’s remarks below<\/u><\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF<\/strong>: \u201cMadam President, Evyatar David has always loved music … singing and playing instruments with his brother, Ilay, and his sister, Yaela, at Shabbat dinners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u201cEvyatar dreams of becoming a music producer one day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd that love of music led Evyatar to the Negev desert for the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor months he had been looking forward to a weekend of music and friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut instead, Madam President, Evyatar is now, as I speak these words on the Senate Floor, living his 591st day of captivity in a Hamas dungeon under Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHis brother, Ilay, told me recently that another hostage, recently freed, brought him a message from Evyatar: that Evyatar misses, most of all, playing music with his family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInstead, Evyatar has been starved and kept in chains with a bag over his head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe and his best friend, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, have been held together and tortured together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvyatar and Guy both have younger sisters, older brothers, parents, friends, whose lives are shattered by their absence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis, Madam President, is Evyatar before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut recent photos show a man abused and malnourished, and he was recently taken to witness the release of hostages, and then returned to captivity, simply to torment him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMadam President, I first met Evyatar\u2019s brother, Ilay, when he visited Atlanta, and then hosted Ilay at my office here in the Senate, and I was inspired by the tenacity of his hope, and his relentless effort to ensure his brother is not forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd today, Madam President, I rise to demand Evyatar\u2019s freedom \u2014 and to demand, yet again, the release of all hostages held in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany of us in Atlanta\u2019s Jewish community, including Ohr HaTorah, Beth Jacob, B\u2019nai Torah, and now all of the synagogues of the Atlanta Rabbinical Assembly, have decided to adopt Evyatar\u2019s case, to call relentlessly for his immediate release and to ensure he is not forgotten or left for dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis 24-year-old man has now spent two birthdays in brutal captivity, where he remains, right now, at this moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut he belongs at home with his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvyatar, you are not forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFree Evyatar David.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFree him now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you, Madam President.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

# # #<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C. \u2014 In a solemn speech on the Senate Floor today, U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff demanded the release of Evyatar David and all the remaining hostages held in Gaza by Hamas. Recently, Sen. Ossoff, alongside several synagogues and Jewish organizations across Atlanta, \u201cadopted\u201d Evyatar\u2019s case to spread the word and advocate for his immediate release. Evyatar David was taken […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27820","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/27820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/27820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27824,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/27820\/revisions\/27824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}