Former hostage Eli Sharabi presented US President Donald Trump with a framed cartoon which featured Holocaust survivors next to released hostages during his visit on Wednesday.
Created by political cartoonist Peter Brookes at The Times, the cartoon was first published in the newspaper on February 10, two days after the hostages depicted were released.
The cartoon read "Never Again" above the Holocaust survivors, and "Again" above the hostages, which included Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami, who were released together.
It illustrated a clear, visual link between the tragedies of the Holocaust and the Nazis’ treatment of the Jews, compared to the hostages held in captivity by Hamas since October 7. Trump made this comparison himself when he told reporters, "They look like Holocaust survivors. They were in horrible condition. They were emaciated.”
The cartoon also featured the ‘release certificates,’ given to the hostages by Hamas, which included details about the date of their abduction and release. This was another parallel with the Nazis in the Holocaust, who meticulously recorded every detail of their actions and the identities of those they persecuted.
Delegation of former hostages visits White House
Sharabi met with Trump in the Oval Office, along with seven other released hostages, while on the special visit to Washington.
The delegation, organized by The Hostage Families Forum and Hostage Aid, was comprised of Noa Argamani, Doron Steinbrecher, Eli Sharabi, Naama Levy, Iair Horn, Omer Shem Tov, and Keith and Aviva Siegel. All of the former hostages in the delegation aside from Argamani and Aviva Siegel were released as part of phase one of the recent hostage-ceasefire deal.
The group met and thanked the Trump administration for its commitment to returning the hostages, shared their experiences from captivity, and emphasized the need to return all hostages immediately.
Trump was additionally presented with a plaque of gratitude from The Hostage Families Forum by the delegation of former hostages.
Trump met with Sharabi after watching his testimony
President Trump invited Sharabi to the White House after watching his testimony in Channel 12’s Uvda, which shared harrowing details of his 491-day captivity, the loss of his family and the struggle to survive.
“You’re 50 meters underground. The sanitary conditions are simply terrible. You shower once a month with a bottle of water, maybe half a bucket of cold water. The chains on my legs never left me from the day I arrived in Gaza until the last day. Some people were shackled only part of the time – I was chained for a year and four months, with thick, heavy locks that tore into my flesh,” he recounted.
“The idea that a free person can just take fruit or drink water – that’s what you dream about every day. You don’t care about the beatings, even when they break your ribs. I didn’t care – just give me half a pita. You start to see your stomach sinking inward. At some point, you can’t believe what’s happening to your own body. During the worst periods, we ate once a day – a bowl of pasta, maybe 250-300 calories.”
