Mind the Tech London 2024Brother of abductee Or Levy: "We must bring him home. We must bring them all home!"
Mind the Tech London 2024
Brother of abductee Or Levy: "We must bring him home. We must bring them all home!"
Michael Levy, brother of Or Levy, who on October 7 was abducted to Gaza at the Nova Music Festival, where his wife was murdered by Hamas terrorists, appealed to the attendees at the Mind the Tech London conference, "Every minute counts. Every minute is life or death."
Michael Levy - Mind the Tech London
(Alex Kolomyski)
My name is Michael Levy, and I am the older brother of Or Levy. Or was kidnapped by Hamas 347 days ago.
I never imagined this would be the reason I am standing in front of you today. In a different reality, I would be here wearing a different hat, talking about anything but this. But for nearly a year now, my life has been focused on just one mission: bringing my younger brother Or home.
On the early morning of October 7th, Or and his wife, Eynav, left their then 2 year old son Almog with his grandparents and headed to the Nova Festival.
They arrived at the festival at 6:20 AM, just nine minutes before everything changed, and the nightmare began.
Or and Eynav ran into a bomb shelter next to kibbutz Reim. There, Or managed to call my mother and repeated the sentence: "Mom, you don’t want to know what’s going on here."
That was the last time we heard from him. Just try to imagine hearing your child going through hell, and not being able to help.
Today we know that only minutes later, terrorists stormed the bomb shelter, opened fire, threw grenades, and murdered 18 innocent people in that shelter alone, including Or’s wife Eynav. Or was dragged outside, covered in the blood of Eynav, and kidnapped into Gaza.
The look on his face – the last sign of life I have from my baby brother, shocked, heartbroken, and completely terrified– never leaves my mind.
Almog (Mogi), their son, recently celebrated his birthday without his mother and father. Watching my 3 year old nephew celebrating his birthday without his parents, was one of the saddest moments of my life.
During the first few months, he used to ask, "Where's Mommy?" or "When is Daddy coming back?" but today, almost a year later, when we show him a picture of Or, he thinks it’s me.
Imagine explaining to a child that mom went away and will not come back and that we are still looking for his daddy?
Almog needs his father back!
He started preschool without his parents. He has not gotten a hug from his parents in almost a year. He hasn’t even been in his own bed since October 7th. What kind of world are we living in if something like this can happen?
The world keeps turning. The stock market rises and falls. Life goes on. But for me – and for the families of too many others – time has stopped. Everything has frozen. My brother is in Gaza and our reality is unbearable.
We must bring him home
We must bring all of them home.
In the footage of Or’s abduction, you can see him being kidnapped together with Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who also went to the Nova festival. Hersh and five other hostages survived 11 months in captivity, only to be executed by those same terrorists.
Every minute counts. Every minute is life or death. Every minute could determine whether Almog will ever be able to hug his father again.
I’m standing here because I cannot do this alone. We, the families of the hostages, cannot do this alone. The world cannot simply go on while our loved ones remain in captivity.
We need you – the most influential people in the economy. You have the power to create real change. You have the ability to make something happen.
We need your help. We cannot be left behind. The time to act is now. Or’s life – and the lives of many others – depends on it.
