No one can say they didn't know

I remember the day that Arbel was released from G*za.

She was paraded through the streets in a sea of green headbands, rough men grasping her, pressing into her, practically suff*cating her.

We held our breaths as she walked through that pit of vipers, unsure whether she would keep putting one foot in front of the other, whether she would get out of there alive. Any moment felt like it could all just erupt in v*olence and end. So precarious. She, so precious and small compared to that ocean of monsters.

She was released after 482 days being held by the PIJ.

But for a time, there were letters.

Somehow, her boyfriend and high school sweetheart, Ariel Cunio, asked his captors to send her a letter so many times, he "drove them crazy." So much so they allowed them for a short while, to send missives back and forth.

In the few they were allowed to send, they updated each other on what they knew about what had happened on the 7th, what was happening in the outside world.

Arbel wrote to Ariel in the last letter,"...we need to stay strong about what we will discover when we get out, because you don’t know anything. You don’t know if your family is living, who is de*d, who was kidn*pped.”

Under threat of d*ath, they were able to send only one last, "I'm fine, I love you" till their captors said, "We will k*ll you, we will k*ll him.’ That’s it."

In her desolation, Arbel revealed this week in a televised interview that she made three different attempts on her life. Until, "I saw the drone footage and understood that people who I don’t know are fighting for me as if I were their sister or daughter, I have a duty to return to Ariel and my family, but also to those fighting for me.”

Beyond the horrible details that Arbel revealed, what has left people in Israel and around the world feeling ill, was the fact that she informed the public that while she was in captivity, she was s*xually ass*alted almost every day.

She was forcibly interrogated, they tried to force her to convert to Islam, and st*rved her.

It's very hard to process all this information.

It leaves me with a rage that is hard to contain.

A feeling of sickness and heartbreak that feels overwhelming.

I cannot understand a world where human beings can do this and believe that they are in the right.

I cannot understand the Western world that hears this story and does not rip their clothing.

Hide their faces in shame.

Or even worse, applauds the monsters who t*rtured this woman and claims it to be "resistance."

No one can say they didn't know.

No one who goes into the streets and claims to be an activist for a Free Palestine - who does a quick google search on testimonies from the hostages- it's all there.

Thank you, Arbel, for making it so that they couldn't say they didn't know.

If they aren't listening...

Or if they are choosing to ignore you...

We need to amplify your voice.

We need to share your story.

We need to make sure that NO ONE can say they didn't know what was really happening.

And Arbel- know this.

We know.

We hear you.

We love you.

And we will always be here to witness what you want to share.

Thank God you are home with Ariel and us.

May you only know blessing and peace the rest of your life.