A Night at Hostages Square — With Half a Million Israelis!

Last night, Elana and I went to hear Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, key figures in securing the hostages’ release, speak at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv — among survivors, parents of hostages, and relatives of the slain.

It was one of those moments you sense is historic even before it begins — and it wasn’t something we had planned. We live an hour away, but some friends who had gone to Greece invited us to stay in their apartment for the weekend. When breaking news came that Witkoff and Kushner were heading to Hostages Square to speak, we were already on the 20-minute walk to join the weekly gathering.

“I dreamed of this night for a long time,” Witkoff would later say. “This is the most powerful sight — hearts beating as one, gathered here in Tel Aviv for peace, for unity, and for hope in this sacred place we call Hostages Square.”

When we arrived, the square was already packed — shoulder to shoulder, people pressed together in anticipation. The street facing the square, empty when we first got there, filled rapidly. Within minutes, it was a human tide. We waited about 45 minutes as the space grew tighter and tighter, the crowd swelling until it became hard to breathe.

At one point, Elana looked at me and said, “I can’t breathe — this is suffocating.” So we made our way through the sea of humanity — not abandoning the moment, but trying to experience it from a little distance. There we found an open-air restaurant, which had actually been our plan from the beginning. We could still hear the speeches echoing from the square just around the corner.

I set up my iPhone so we could watch as well. Normally, I can’t stand when people use their phones in public without earphones — but this was different. No one minded. In fact, several of the white-clad wait staff stopped by our table to take in the historic event, visibly moved. It wasn’t politics; it was deeply human.

“Tonight we celebrate something extraordinary,” Witkoff read from his prepared remarks, “a moment that many thought was impossible. Yet here we stand, living proof that when courage meets conviction, miracles can happen — a peace born not out of politics, but out of courage, the courage of those who refuse to give up hope.”

He said he wanted “to honor the people of Israel — your strength, your resilience, your unwavering spirit through unimaginable pain and loss.”

The emotion in the air had nothing to do with being near influential people. It had everything to do with two years of exhaustion — two years of memories of October 7, two years of waiting for all of the hostages to come home. And, God willing, that day is tomorrow.

It was also a chance for the public to express gratitude to the American president who pressured all sides to make it happen. There were dozens of signs in English: “Thank you, President Trump.”

We learned this morning that a staggering 500,000 people gathered in and around Hostages Square — the largest rally in Tel Aviv since the early days of the war. To be in that atmosphere — even from around the corner — was electric. That’s the equivalent of 13.2 million people filling New York City. But unlike America, any Israeli can drive to Tel Aviv from almost anywhere in the country in three hours — four from Eilat.

Then came a lighter moment. Witkoff began to thank Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Saturday-night Tel Aviv rallies tend to draw a center-left crowd, often critical of the government’s handling of the war. While they see President Trump as a key figure in bringing this conflict to a close, they view Netanyahu as an obstacle.

Witkoff tried to recover, pleading with the audience to let him finish his thought about Bibi. Even Jared Kushner, standing behind him, was clearly trying not to laugh. It wasn’t anger so much as a collective, humorous protest — a flash of irony in an otherwise emotional night. Witkoff went on to say that none of this would have been possible without Netanyahu, “as together they fought in the trenches.”

Then, it was Kushner’s turn to speak. Without notes, he spoke from the heart — quietly, sincerely.

“October 7 for me was a shattering day,” he said. “Seeing these horrific, barbaric acts shocked me to my core… Since then, my heart has not been complete.”

He shared how he had been at a wedding in Colorado, when news of the attack broke. He left the celebration, went back to his hotel room, and spent the rest of the day and night crying, using his sources to understand the magnitude of what had happened. While I am sure he is more tuned in than the rest of us, the fact is that no one understood the magnitude of the devastation that was taking place in Israel. Even the highest intelligence sources didn’t know the full horror at first: women raped, families burned together, parents shot in front of their children, 250 hostages, 1,200 dead.

Kushner’s tone wasn’t political. It was deeply empathetic, almost pastoral. He didn’t speak as a billionaire to the masses (which doesn’t really work in Israel), but as a Jew to Jews. The square — so often the site of protest and tension — had turned into a place of excitement and celebration.

“We’re not going to celebrate tonight,” he told the crowd. “We’re going to celebrate on Monday.” The audience erupted.

“I couldn’t be more proud to see the way that the State of Israel and its people have carried themselves through this traumatic, unthinkable, horrific experience,” shared Kushner. “Instead of replicating the barbarism of the enemy, you chose to be exceptional.”

He closed by thanking Israel’s armed forces: “I just want to thank the amazing soldiers of the IDF. Without their heroism and brilliance and bravery, this deal would not have been possible.

Then Ivanka Trump stepped forward. The crowd erupted into chants: “Thank you, Trump! Thank you, Trump!” Of course, they were thanking her father. Ivanka shared, “The president wanted me to tell you — as he has said to so many of you personally — that he sees you, he hears you, and he stands with you always, always.”

As the speeches ended, we paid the bill and began walking back to the apartment. Just as I reached the corner, the Witkoff–Kushner–Trump motorcade came screaming by — lights flashing, engines roaring — about six big black SUVs passing just a few meters in front of me. The sound echoed through streets that only minutes earlier had been packed with hundreds of thousands of people.

I stood there for a long moment afterward. It struck me that we’d just witnessed something far bigger than a political event. It was a portrait of a people yearning for peace, unity, the safe return of the hostages — and maybe, a little hope.

And to think, we weren’t even supposed to be there.

When I hear people abroad say, “You can’t trust Hamas — you can’t make a deal,” I understand them. But they don’t live here. They haven’t endured two years of war. Their people aren’t suffocating underground, wasting away. They haven’t seen mutilated bodies or lived with perpetual PTSD. They cannot comprehend the heaviness that we have lived under.

“But the Bible says in the end times…”

Yes, I know what the Bible says. But God wants us to put people before prophecy. Virtually all prophecy is about God and His people. The true prophet weeps long before he prophesies — like Jeremiah — over the devastation his words may bring.

Last night was a national sigh of relief. Seeing a confident Witkoff and Kushner tell us the hostages truly are coming home felt like water in the desert — life itself.

Seeing how lighthearted and ordinary they were gave the rest of us hope that this really is coming to an end. It’s been reported that Hamas may release the hostages today!

President Trump arrives tomorrow morning at 9:20 a.m. — and it’s believed they will be home before he touches down.

May it be so. 🇮🇱