A sad birthday for Kfir Bibs at the Kidnapped Square: "He can still be saved"/Niv Aharonson
An entire country watched the security videos from Khan Yunis, in which they see Shiri Biebs - barefoot, covered with a large piece of cloth, from which little Ariel's red head sticks out, held in her arms, being led by terrorists and pushed into a car.
The heart goes out to the frightened family that was photographed on the day of their abduction to Gaza.
Immediately after the broadcast of the heart-wrenching photos, two days later, Jordan's family members and Shiri Biebs went on air in dozens of media outlets in Israel and around the world, expressing their deep concern, calling for the children and Shiri to be returned home, now.
One of them is Jimmy Miller, Shiri's cousin, who has been busy fighting for their release from captivity for four and a half months, is interviewed in studios, travels, speaks, helps the abductees' headquarters, hardly works and barely survives on donations from good people.
Like him, also dozens of family members of abductees from the second circle, young cousins, who are at the front, some of them leading the fight for the members of the first circle, who are not mentally capable or talented to stand in front of an audience, and the state does not recognize them and does not assist them financially.
The allowances and grants, which add up to amounts of over one hundred thousand shekels, are transferred by the National Insurance only to members of the nuclear family, and in special cases - also to uncles.
Documenting Biebs' songs and her children are led in Gaza
Attached are the documents of the members of the Biebs family being taken away on October 7 by their captors in Gaza, Mizrah Khan Yunis/IDF Spokesman
The National Insurance claims that with all due respect to the blessed mobilization, there is no precedent for payment to cousins from the state, as in other cases of harm in hostilities, and the family's duty is to divide the sums of money it receives from the state among those who are active in the struggle.
The expectation that the cousins will ask for money for living from the close family members is bordering on arbitrariness.
No one will start arguing with a bereaved father or brother about how much he deserves per month.
So it's true, it really hasn't happened in any field, but if we're talking about precedents, citizens have never been kidnapped from their homes either, so no existing practice applies to this unique case.
Miller, 48 years old, married and father of four, owner of a company for the construction and maintenance of aquariums, lives in Tel Aviv.
The disaster in which Shiri's parents were murdered and her entire family was kidnapped happened to him on a plane on the way from the USA to Israel, with two of the children. The other two were in the Dead Sea that weekend with his wife and her family.
"At eight thirty in the morning, Israel time, someone started shouting, 'Missiles, terrorists.' Shiri, Jordan and the children, and send the video of the kidnapping'.
"I talked to my mother and asked if she talked to Margit, her sister, Shiri's mother, and she said she answered in the morning and now there is no answer.
Towards noon she called again, and someone answered in Arabic, 'Death, death'.
In retrospect, we know that the uncle and aunt were taken from the apartment in the kibbutz, taken towards Gaza and killed, it is not known exactly how."
with an exclusive discount
The Israeli company that invented hair removers does it again
In collaboration with Epilady
From the plane to a day and night activity that has been going on for more than four and a half months.
Jimmy Miller/Courtesy of the photographer
"I was shocked, with two anxious children at home. I talked to Yossi, I asked what to do, who to turn to? We didn't know it would last so long, we thought it would be a matter of a few hours and that was it. Someone from ZAKA who came to the kibbutz entered their burnt house.
There were no bodies in the MMD, only that of the dog. The aunt has Parkinson's disease, we thought about who to contact to try to save her and encountered a lack of response everywhere. I called the telephone number of the hotline and gave their details and that of Jordan, Shiri and the children.
"I'm with Engel, a neighbor And a friend who was abroad at all, distributed my phone in groups of reporters and then we started receiving inquiries from letters. Yossi took over the communication abroad and I in Israel.
We spoke with dozens of journalists from Israel and the world.
I wrote to him what to say and how to answer, all from intuition, because I have no training in the field and there was no longer the headquarters of the abductors to help him.
I opened the business only for urgent cases, where the fish almost swam on their backs.
Yossi, who is a real estate man, handed over the marketing of his apartments and projects to others, stopped working and moved to work in the media."
How do you support a family and four children like this?
"Two months before October 7th, I was cut by a piece of glass that fell on me. I received several tens of thousands of shekels from the insurance and that's what supported us for two months. I received money from here and there, from people who wanted to help, from family, but it ended at some point. When a friend saw what situation Yossi and I had gotten into , he opened Head Start and we shared the money with the other family members."
Kfir Biebs' birthday "celebrations" in January.
Most of the funds came from Start/Reuters
Shiri's parents were murdered, her sister rarely gives interviews, so Jimmy, Yossi and Yifat, her cousins, entered the vacuum.
On Jordan Biebs' side, his sister, Ofri, took on part of the burden together with Elon and Tomer, his cousins.
It turns out that the younger generation are the ones who drive the struggle for their liberation.
The headquarters of the abductees takes care of collecting donations for trips abroad and Israel, and the immediate need is for a living allowance to help them.
"The state understands that people in the first circle are unable to work and gives them help, but we are unable to work. Elon and Tomer work in high-tech, and luckily their companies continue to pay a full salary, but Yossi and I are self-employed, and if we don't work - there is no money. When Jordan's cousins came in For the picture, I started to raise my head a little above water, but I'm still immersed in the struggle.
"I saw an interview of the Minister of Labor on News 12, and he said that they will make sure to compensate everyone who fought for the release of the kidnapped, even the distant relatives.
At the headquarters they tried to find out for us where it stands, but they were unable to find a clue.
And I'm not alone, there are dozens like me.
Since I am a father of four children, who pays a mortgage, property tax, electricity, food for the children, I am not able to stand it.
It's sad to say, but luckily I had the insurance money because of the injury, otherwise I wouldn't have lasted."
No progress.
Labor Minister Yoav Ben Tzur/Reuven Castro
The National Insurance suggests that the cousins request reimbursement for trips abroad from the Ministry of Defense's fund, but as mentioned, the trips are fully financed by the families' headquarters. What could have been done is to examine the decrease in turnover of the self-employed among the cousins, and compensate them accordingly, Compensation similar to that of the residents of the surrounding area who live 0-7 km from the border.
The Minister of Labor, Yoav Ben Zur, said in response: "The law passed in favor of aid to the families of the abductees was passed after cooperation and coordination with the representatives of the families themselves. Every quarter, the National Insurance Fund transfers financial assistance to the family for the benefit of the current needs derived from the difficult situation and the effort to return them home - which can reach more than NIS 200,000.
"This grant is part of the envelope given to the family and they have the option of dividing the amount according to their own eyes and judgment among the various family members.
In unique cases, it is possible to examine and receive payment refunds for the expenses of additional family members involved in the return of the abductee.
The Minister of Labor will meet with the members of the dear families and examine every way to help them if possible."
More on the same topic:
abducted