Untying the yellow ribbon

Like everyone else this week, we at the SA Jewish Report had the cathartic experience of removing our yellow ribbons and took off our “Bring them home” dog tags. The SA Jewish Report team has also finally removed the yellow ribbon we have carried on our front page every week since 7 October 2023. We made a commitment to carrying it until the last hostage was home. 

So many tears of relief were shed in Israel and around the world when it was confirmed earlier this week that the body of Ran Gvili, the last hostage remaining in Gaza, was coming home. The waiting, the anxiety, the distress and fear for the hostages is finally over. 

The war is over … for now. The proverbial 7 October has finally come to pass, and we have moved on to 8 October and onwards and upwards. The thrust of Israel’s ordeal has come to an end! 

On Tuesday evening, 27 January, there was an emotional gathering at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, where the clock that was counting the minutes from when the hostages were taken was finally stopped. It stopped at 843 days: 12 hours: 05 minutes: 59 seconds. As it stopped, there was silence among the throngs of people there. And then the clapping and whooping began. 

Other than that, there was little in the way of celebration or joy on the streets of Israel. That’s because although everyone is relieved they are all home, there is little cause for rejoicing. The truth is, the pain and anguish of this war doesn’t disappear just like that. The damage done to the hostages, those brutalised on 7 October, and the many soldiers, doesn’t just go away. Israel is a country with much pain and suffering after 843 days of war. 

However, there is a deep sense of gratitude that Israel promised it would not leave any hostages in Gaza – and it fulfilled that commitment to the last. 

I believe it would have been tough for Israelis to forgive their leaders if they hadn’t fulfilled this commitment. So, it’s a massive relief! Today, there is not one Israeli hostage left in Gaza, something that couldn’t be said for the past 12 years. Even those who had been taken long before the war in Gaza have been brought home in this long painful process for Israel, Jews, and Palestinians. 

Will Israel be able to prevent hostages being taken in the future? It’s a tough question because I agree with former Israel government spokesperson Eylon Levy that the ransom we paid for getting our hostages back won’t serve us in the long term. Israel freed thousands of Hamas operatives from Israeli prisons in order to get our people back, and it was an extraordinary price to pay as those operatives are back on the streets of Gaza, most probably believing that taking hostages is worthwhile. And although Hamas has taken a serious knock, it is still standing. 

As Levy said, Israel is going to have to make securing its citizens from being taken hostage its number-one priority. What will it take to dismantle Hamas to ensure it can never do this kind of damage to Israel again? When in history has a terrorist organisation agreed to disarm and throw in the towel? I guess, I didn’t believe all the hostages would be brought home, so I need to have hope and trust. 

It is no coincidence that the last hostage was finally brought home on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 81 years since World War II ended. The hostages will always be a reminder of 7 October 2023 – the very day that Jews around the world were forced to recognise that as much as we say, “Never again,” we now know it can happen again. 

And during the 843 days since the 7 October massacre and the hostages were taken, we learnt how easily antisemitism could and did escalate. We recognised that although we believed Jews were very much a part of every country we live in, there were many in those countries that have come out to remind us that we are different. 

Having said that, we have also learnt that we have friends where we didn’t expect to find them. And there certainly are many people around the world who stand by us. 

It has also been driven home to us time and again that the reason we have a sense of security in this world is because Israel – the Jewish state – exists. And yet, it is that same state that our enemies want to destroy. We keep being reminded at every protest and every day on social media of the call, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” In other words, obliterate the Jewish state and all within it to make it a Palestinian state. 

Clearly, as much as our enemies will insist that it’s not about Jews, but Israel, the numbers don’t lie. There have been 815 severe antisemitic incidents around the world reported just during 2025, according to the latest report by Israels’ Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Antisemitism. This includes the murder of 21 Jews, a significant increase from the one person killed in 2024. 

There have been 124 million antisemitic posts on X/Twitter according to the report, and there have been more than 4 000 anti-Israel demonstrations, 365 of which were classified as posing an extreme risk to Jews. 

Most incidents were recorded in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, and Canada – not South Africa. 

An analysis of 10 prominent fake-news cases demonstrates, according to the report, how misinformation, miscaptured imagery, and distorted claims – especially around Gaza – shaped international narratives and fuelled hostility towards Jews and Israel. And obviously, South Africa taking Israel to the International Court of Justice on trumped-up charges of genocide has added to this, as has various United Nations condemnations of Israel. 

There are many painful remnants and reminders of 7 October. However, this week, all the hostages are home and Israel and the Jewish world have an opportunity to breathe and look forward. 

We don’t know what lies ahead, but we know this, as long as we work together, we will survive and thrive. Am Yisrael Chai! 

Shabbat shalom! 

Peta Krost 

Editor