Yossi Schneider, a cousin of the Bibas family, told New York City radio host Sid Rosenberg that convincing the world to help Israel is an uphill battle
June 27, 2024 10:18
ByJC Reporter, Jewish News Syndicate
Kfir Bibas, who was nine months old when he was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, has now spent more of his life as a hostage than as a free human being, his relative Yossi Schneider said on Wednesday.
During an interview with Sid Rosenberg, host of New York City-based radio show “Sid & Friends in the Morning”, Schneider, the cousin of Kfir’s mother Shiri, noted that Wednesday was Kfir’s 263rd day in captivity, and that he had lived 262 days before October 7.
Schneider, who has dedicated the last nine months to raising awareness of the plight of his kidnapped cousins, sharply criticised the Biden administration, so-called human rights organisations and western media as a whole for their indifference to the hostages and general hostility toward Israel.
“The only reason that is happening is because we are from Israel. Ok, maybe because we are Jewish,” he said.
On October 7, the Bibas family, including mother Shiri, husband Yarden and their two children, Ariel, 4, and Kfir were snatched by Hamas terrorists from Nir Oz, a kibbutz less than a mile from the Gaza border.
On 19 February, the IDF aired undated video footage of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir being led away by their Hamas captors in the Gaza city of Khan Yunis.
“Shiri’s walking barefoot over there, leading to a car. It’s a few-second movie. That’s what we’ve got,” said Schneider. “From Yarden, some of the hostages that came back were with him, so we have some kind of information about him. But it’s [been] about 220 days since we heard something about them. So it’s [been] a long time.”
Another video exists of Shiri clutching her two children on the day she was captured. Schneider said the video is chilling because there’s sound in the video and terrorists can be heard shouting.
Shiri is also screaming, her mouth wide open. Only, no sound comes out. “She was just screaming from inside. I will never forget it,” he said.
A 40-second video of a bloodied Yarden kidnapped by armed terrorists on a motorcycle also exists.
In November, Hamas announced that Shiri and her two children had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. Israel could not confirm the report and is treating the family as still alive.
Schneider expressed frustration at the world’s reaction, with many seeming to swallow every lie told by Hamas while refusing to believe Israel even when it provides overwhelming evidence of its claims.
“The fact is that there are 90 young women right now still in captivity. We know the majority of them are being raped every day, repeatedly. Some of them [are] assumed to be pregnant. And all those ‘needs’ organisations don’t say anything,” he said.
“The women’s rights [groups] of the UN say that they don’t believe that there really were rapes even on the seventh of October, even though there was proof. And even when people that came back testify that they’ve been raped and sexually molested, it still doesn’t believe it,” he said.
“Try to understand that you’re fighting against everyone. Everyone is against you. Nobody wants to believe you,” said Schneider.
Rosenberg agreed. “Antisemitism is a real thing, Yossi. They hate us. The world hates us. I’m not sure if it’s jealousy. I don’t know what it is. But they hate us.
“And you’re right. All these women’s groups that are quick to scream ‘me too’ and all that, They haven’t said a word…I mean, some of these girls, this is a bit graphic, I’m sorry, but some of these girls, you got 10 to 15 guys a day. And the ones that survived the Nova music festival are going through things maybe a heck of a lot worse than the poor girls that died.”
Schneider addressed the fact that the Biden administration, which stood with Israel in the initial days of the war, then gradually became more antagonistic, including calling for an end to the fighting, a move that would allow Hamas to survive.
US President Joe Biden has put wind in Hamas’s sails, said Schneider. Hamas was offered more than it “could have dreamed about” in the most recent round of negotiations, but rejected the deal because of what Biden and other world leaders have been saying, he added. Hamas has no reason to stop, he said, as “every day that goes by it’s getting more”.
“We are abetting,” agreed Rosenberg. “We’re helping them. The United States government is actually helping the bad guy.”
Schneider urged America to “wake up” before it was too late. Noting that he visited the 9/11 Memorial three weeks ago, he said the United States had already experienced one attack by radical Muslim organisations and shouldn’t want to experience another.
“Help us get rid of all these radical terror organisations,” he said. “There is no difference between Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Boko Haram, Islamic State. The only difference is the name.”
JNS