American hostages released by Hamas: This is their story
A photo of Natalie and Judith Raanan appearing on social media. (Distributed by the family) Courtesy of Raanan family
This story was reported before Hamas released Americans Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie on Friday.
Tamar Levitan from Kibbutz Nahal Oz celebrated her 85th birthday last month. For this special occasion, her 59-year-old daughter Judith Raanan, known as Yula, and her granddaughter Natalie Raanan, 17, came to Israel for an especially long visit from their home in the Chicago suburb of Evanston. Natalie finished high school two months ago and decided to take a gap year, to travel a bit and think about what she would like to study afterward.
During their extended visit, Judith and Natalie visited various family members in Israel: Judith’s younger sister Sheri, who lives in the northern moshav of Habonim, and her older brother Adi, who lives in Mitzpeh Ramon in the south.
On Saturday Oct. 7, they were visiting Tamar in the Gaza border community of Nahal Oz, staying in a kibbutz guest apartment that is located in the first row of residences, closest to the fence and entrance gate.
Judith was born in Israel, grew up in Holon and later traveled to the United States, where she met Uri Raanan, Natalie’s father. Natalie was born in the United States and her parents divorced when she was in kindergarten. After the separation, Judith became drawn to the Orthodox Chabad movement and started living observantly. She works as a sterilization technician in hospitals and is also a professional beautician. But above all, the family says, she is an artist – a talented painter who paints in bold and vibrant colors.
Terrorists next door
Tamar Levitan moved to Nahal Oz nine years ago, to be with Yehiel (one of the kibbutz founders). He became her partner 15 years ago after she had become widowed. “I came here out of love,” she says in an interview that was conducted before Judith and Natalie were released by Hamas.
Yehiel is quick to take the blame for the fact that Judith and Natalie were at Nahal Oz on that accursed Shabbat. “But what troubles me is not that they were at Nahal Oz, but that now they’re not at Nahal Oz,” Tamar chimes in. “Yehiel, I have news for you: This is a rare instance where you’re not to blame.”
On October 7, Tamar heard the first barrage of rocket fire coming from the Gaza Strip.
“Since childhood I’ve been an early riser, so I was already awake. Yehiel was still sleeping. The first volley at 6:10 A.M. was very severe, waking Yehiel up. After that, it was ‘red alert, red alert, red alert,’ until they got tired of saying it so they said, ‘Stay locked in the secure spaces until further notice.’ Then we received a message: ‘There are terrorists in the area, lock the front door to your house, close the windows, close the shutters, lock up.’ So that’s what we did. Every hour or so, the instruction was renewed: ‘Stay in the safe room.’”
Judith and Natalie Raanan’s relatives in Israel. Yehiel Chlenov, left, Hila Cohen, Tamar Levitan, Sheri Levitan Cohen and Adi Levitan.Credit: Michal Chelvin / Prpject initiation: Yasmin Harel
As soon as the rocket barrages began, Tamar sent Judith a message. “She didn’t answer. I knew she wouldn’t answer because she observes Shabbat. So then I corresponded with Natalie. I told her: ‘Tell Mom that this is a matter of saving lives, which overrides Shabbat, so she should answer me.’ But Yula still didn’t answer so I continued to correspond with Natalie. We were told not to talk on the phone, because terrorists were walking around the kibbutz and it wouldn’t be good for them to hear which apartments had people in them and which didn’t. I heard men speaking in Arabic outside.”
Throughout that entire day, Tamar and Yehiel stayed in the safe room, which is also their bedroom. At one point Tamar couldn’t resist venturing out of the safe room. “I peeked outside, saw that no one was there, so I sneaked out. I made coffee and two plates with something to eat, because Yehiel is diabetic and must have food. In a moment of clarity, I said to myself: ‘Well, girl, you’ll be in the safe room for many more hours.’ So I took a loaf of sliced bread, some sliced sausage and sliced cheese into the room.”
You didn’t hear terrorists in your home at any point?
“We heard conversations outside [in Arabic], shots being fired, which was a first for me, and also the message ‘There are terrorists in the community’ – not good news.”
You weren’t afraid?
“Listen, research on billions of people has proven that you only die once.”
In the evening, they received a message that the army had arrived at the kibbutz and soldiers would be going door-to-door, checking on the residents and evacuating them.
“From the community’s WhatsApp group, we knew that there were wounded – but we didn’t know about the murdered. They told us that the army would knock on our windows and call out ‘IDF, IDF, IDF,’ and that we must not open the door but should only answer. They did come, and I opened the door and asked them if I could offer them something to drink – because they’re good children, these poor kids. The soldiers told me, ‘Close the door immediately! There are terrorists in the house next door.’”
The soldiers arrived hours after contact with Natalie and Judith had been lost. Tamar and Yehiel informed the kibbutz emergency team that communications had been cut off, and were told that the matter was being handled and forces were on their way.
This reassured Tamar. But when they came to evacuate her and Yehiel, she said she could not leave without her daughter and granddaughter. “They didn’t let us go to the guest apartment. They told us: ‘Come to the assembly point and meet them there.’ But when we arrived at the assembly point, they weren’t there. I said to the commander, ‘They’re U.S. citizens, I want to involve the embassy.’ My reasoning was that the sooner the U.S. Embassy knew there were American citizens involved, this would increase their chances.
Natalie Raanan, 17, from Evanston, Ill. Natalie was born in the U.S., and kidnapped from Nahal Oz by Hamas. She recently graduated from High School. Natalie loves animals and considers studying design.
“They took me, surrounded by soldiers, to the apartment where they had been staying. The doors were broken, clothes on the floor, but the girls were gone. It was a relief to me that I didn’t see any bloodstains, but we understood that they’d been abducted.”
Grotesque Hamas videos
Tamar’s younger daughter, Sheri, was at her home in Habonim all this time, anxiously tracking what was happening.
“I received a message from a friend in the morning: ‘There’s a war.’ I washed my face and contacted my mother and Judith, to try to understand what was happening with them. Judith didn’t answer her phone at all. Natalie answered me, said that they’re okay, they’re in the safe room and there’s no need to worry. I was amazed by her equanimity – an American girl who’s not used to any of this suddenly finding herself amid all the chaos. I was in constant contact with her. I sent her phone numbers of contacts who could help with emotional support, if they felt they needed it. She wrote to me, ‘Mom doesn’t have her phone, I’ll tell her.’ The last message she sent me was at 12:18 P.M., when she wrote that they were hearing gunshots outside the apartment but they were okay, no need to worry, and that they love us very much. Then she stopped answering me. I thought maybe her phone battery had run out or there was a lull in the shelling and they’d gone to rest.”
How did you get through that day?
“Mostly glued to the television and on the phone.”
Did you try to mobilize people you know?
“It was not yet the time for action. There were battles there the whole time, it was impossible to send someone to see how they were doing. Even the army had not yet arrived there. I was only making sure that my mom and Yehiel were eating and drinking, because they’re quite elderly. At this point, we could only stay in contact and try to make sure they were okay.
“At about 11:30 P.M., my mother informed me that they had been freed but Natalie and Judith had apparently been kidnapped from the area. I was here with my son Roy and my daughter Hila. We hugged, cried, drank a glass of whiskey and said: ‘Now let’s get to work.’”
The family emergency headquarters that was immediately set up has not stopped working since. “The entire family is mobilized, including close and distant cousins. We work on two channels: the Israeli channel and the American channel,” Sheri says. “It took us two and a half to three days until all the formalities were completed, such as opening files for them at the U.S. Embassy. This was difficult because we didn’t have their passport numbers. There was nothing left in the apartment they’d been staying in; they took away their passports.
“In the end, we managed to verify their U.S. citizenship even without that. At the same time, we contacted the Israeli consulate in Chicago. We contacted members of Congress and the Senate in order to put pressure on the Israeli and American state departments. We contacted the Chabad community, because my sister prays in Rabbi [Meir] Hecht’s community. We contacted the Chicago [Jewish] Federation. Everything we could think of, in order to put pressure on American and Hamas authorities.
“In parallel, we acted here. We opened a case with the police hotline for reporting on hostages; we provided DNA samples; we spoke to Israeli Military Intelligence; we entered every possible forum for abductees, missing persons, private initiatives that have been organized, etc., to try to establish contact. We went through Hamas videos, no matter how grotesque, to see if we could find them there. And we started publishing on social media that they were missing, asking if anyone had seen or heard anything.”
Talking with Biden and Blinken
The eldest sibling, Adi Levitan, who works in the theater, says the family immediately realized that Natalie and Judith’s American citizenship was an important card. “The other day, I was on a Zoom call with [U.S. President Joe] Biden, who sat with us for 90 minutes and showed empathy, patience and attentiveness. It’s simply unbelievable. That’s something that hasn’t happened with anyone else,” he says.
“We’re really busy raising awareness of their case in the foreign media, because this is the main leverage – if there can be any – on Hamas. I attended a meeting of the families of the abductees with [U.S. Secretary of State] Antony Blinken. It was a heartwarming and encouraging meeting. Suddenly, we felt that there’s someone who cares, that it matters to him. Blinken sat and heard everyone’s story, shook hands with everyone, asked personal questions, showed empathy, hugged us virtually and physically.”
Last Friday, nearly a week after the abduction, a representative of the Israel Defense Forces arrived at the family’s home for the first time. “She was totally fine – we finally felt there was someone to talk to, and someone who wanted to help us and communicate with us,” Adi recounts.
Sheri, though, is critical of the gap between the U.S. government’s attitude toward the family and that of the Israeli authorities. “The president of the United States found the time to be humane and to establish personal contact with the family. We have three FBI representatives who are in constant contact with us; we have a liaison from the U.S. Embassy in constant contact. They’re there for us. We feel embraced, that there’s compassion, that they care.
“In Israel, except for one amazing officer who’s in contact with us, no one has reached out. It’s such a tremendous failure what happened here, and it’s my feeling that they’re afraid to come forward and face the brickbats. There’s complete chaos here among the authorities. We feel really embraced within our family, but totally abandoned by the Israeli authorities. We don’t feel that we’re in good hands.”
Tell us about your big sister Judith.
Sheri: “She likes to say that we’re twins because we were born on the same day, three years apart. Judith defines herself as a simple person. She’s deeply connected to her faith and prays regularly at synagogue. She’s an artist, a prolific painter. She loves nature, birds, swimming – she swims a lot. She tells me: ‘I enjoy the little things – the black coffee in the morning, the chirping of the birds.’ She’s very spiritual at her core, really gets people. She knows how to connect with people of all ages and in any situation.
“There were years when we quarreled a lot, but now we’re very close. We speak almost every day since she’s been living in America. We tell each other about all of life’s bumps and we gossip together, laughing – and we can laugh at Mom. She tells me what she’s going through. I’m glad we got to spend a few days together during this visit. She was thinking about whether to return to Israel now that Natalie has finished high school. She thought of looking into the possibility of purchasing an apartment here, so that she’d have a base in Israel.”
Natalie, says Sheri, is a typical teenager, beautiful and interested in beauty care. “She loves makeup, nails, she’s an avid dog lover. She was debating what to study, and the decision was between interior design and beauty professions such as manicuring or professional makeup. She’s sweet and a gentle soul. I hope she finds the strength to withstand this terrible ordeal. My sister at least has her faith, which may sustain her.
“We don’t even know if they’re together or not, and this is also something that troubles us deeply. We’re trying to stay optimistic, but we must get a sign of life. The horrors that we see when we watch videos are unbearable. It’s unreal that they’ve been in captivity for more than 10 days and we don’t have any sign of life from them. I try to imagine the terror they’re in, but it’s unimaginable. I just hope they know that we’ll do everything to save them, and as a start we’re begging for a sign of life.”
This article originally appeared on Haaretz.com. To get Haaretz’s Daily Brief newsletter delivered to your inbox, click here.
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