Last Canadian hostage held by Hamas in Gaza declared dead
Judih Weinstein Haggai and her husband were on their morning walk when they found themselves targets in the middle of Hamas slaughter
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On Thursday, the Nir Oz kibbutz announced in a Facebook post that Judih Weinstein Haggai had died. She was 70.
“Judy was a poet, entrepreneur, and pursued many initiatives to advance peace in the region,” said Nir Oz Kibbutz in the statement.
Last week, the death of her husband, Gadi Haggai, 72, was announced. The two had been fatally injured on the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Both of their bodies remain in Hamas captivity.
“In total, approximately 60 per cent of their small town was killed or taken hostage on Oct. 7. Her family held out hope for a return making an impassioned plea on the steps of Parliament,” said Noah Shack, vice president of countering antisemitism and hate at the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. “My heart goes out to her family here in Toronto and elsewhere and I think the pain that they must be feeling reverberates through the broader Jewish community.”
Shack said Israel had made proposals in the last two weeks to encourage a pause in hostilities and enable the release of hostages, but Hamas’s refusals keep many families stuck between pain and hope.
“There are still around 100 people being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. One hundred more families who are still hoping and waiting,” Shack said.
For weeks, the family did not know the whereabouts of their family matriarch and patriarch. Judih also held Canadian citizenship, making her among the number of Canadians killed during the brutal Oct. 7 massacre that left around 1,200 people dead.
While Global Affairs Canada has released little information on the specifics of Canadians taken captive or killed in the attack, at least seven Canadians were killed in the early hours of the Hamas attack on Israel. Among them were Vivian Silver, a peace activist from Winnipeg who lived in kibbutz Be’eri, Netta Epstein, who saved his girlfriend by hurling himself onto a grenade thrown into their safe room, Shir Georgy, who was killed at the Supernova music festival and Adi Vital-Kaploun, who grew up in Ottawa.
Judih was born in New York, but moved to Canada when she was three. Twenty years later, she made aliyah, moving to Israel with her husband. The two leave behind four children and seven grandchildren.
Judih and Gadi were on their morning walk when the Hamas attack started, and they found themselves targets in the middle of the slaughter. They took cover in a field. A 40-second video clip sent to a group chat was the last contact the family had with the couple; until their deaths were announced, they did not know for certain the fates of their loved ones.
Iris Weinstein Haggai, the couple’s daughter, said that on the day of the attack, her mother had been phoning for help from a paramedic, who relayed what he knew to the family.
“She (told the paramedic) they were shot by terrorists on a motorcycle and that my dad was wounded really bad,” Weinstein Haggai told the Times of Israel. “Paramedics tried to send her an ambulance. The ambulance got hit by a rocket.”
Ali Weinstein, Judih’s niece who lives in Toronto, said in a Dec. 4 interview that the family was on an emotional roller-coaster, feeling grief, joy for the hostages who had been released during a pause in fighting and dread each time her aunt wasn’t among those released.
She said Canadian officials were more responsive than their American and Israeli counterparts, with two RCMP officers in touch nearly every day, despite there being few new facts to share.
The family initially kept quiet because they feared raising Weinstein Haggai’s profile with her presumed captors.
They said they were also unsure whether to voice their dismay at how Israel has responded to the attacks, with a siege on Gaza that the United Nations says violates international humanitarian law.
The war has already killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas officials, and driven about 85 per cent of the Gaza Strip’s population of 2.3 million people from their homes. Israeli authorities say they have taken measures to reduce civilian casualties as they try to root out Hamas and rescue the remaining hostages.
“We need to do is to stand firm. We all want peace. No one likes war. There is no one wants to see bloodshed,” said Shack. “But in order for there to be peace, the hostages have to come home.”
Weinstein Haggai’s family also said early this month that they were distressed by the rise in hateful speech toward both Jews and Muslims in Canada. (Note: This is editorialising by the National Post writer: Ali Al Ashoor)
“We’re inspired by my sister, who believed in peace and believed in harmony,” said Larry Weinstein, Judih’s brother, on Dec. 4.
“There can’t be any kind of resolution when people are at each other’s throats.”
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