On video: Statement by the families of the Tel Aviv abductees: "This is not the time for procrastination"/Photo: Shlomi Gabai
A group of victims of October 7, including families of abductees and murdered, as well as abductees who were released, published a letter today (Thursday) protesting their use to gain media attention. The letter was published following a story that was revealed yesterday about the use made by food blogger Daniel Amit in her conversation with one of the abductees who were released. Amit spoke with the former abductee and uploaded, without her permission and without obscuring her face, a screenshot of the conversation between them that included personal details.
"The October 7 victims in general and the abductions and the abductees in particular are not a tool for obtaining followers, items or media attention," the letter said. In addition, it mentions a broadcast of a television show that was filmed before the war, and whose audience included victims, including an abductee who returned and whose family members are still abducted.
"We live in a complex reality of unmediated access to people and information amid a war that brought many families of soldiers and civilians into the circle of mourning," the letter adds, "it is likely that over time you got to meet these people, either the family members or the victims themselves - including Abductees and returned abductees - and to hear from them very personal details because they trust you."
The authors write: "It is our duty to show absolute responsibility and not publish this information on their behalf, and certainly not without their permission (whether they have returned from captivity or whether they are still there). In addition, this is a violation of information security. We are not looking to add to the danger that is already hovering over their heads or To act disrespectfully towards the memory of the fallen."
At the end of the letter, which was signed by members of the Goldstein-Almog family, Abigail Idan, Moran Stella Yanai, members of the Bibbs family, members of the Engel family and many others, it was stated: "The abductees did not ask to be famous, the survivors of the captivity are in a complex rehabilitation process, they are exposed in the media from A mission to return their brothers and sisters (and ours) from captivity. Let's continue to produce information and actions that encourage discourse and sympathetic opinion, not yellow items or stories. This is the minimum that the citizens who have been promiscuous within the borders of the country or beyond the fence deserve.