A photographic exhibition that explores the feelings and experiences of 25 mothers of victims of Hamas's October 7 attacks opened at the Libertad Palace cultural center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Thursday, the AMIA and the Argentinian government announced.
The exhibition, which is titled El último abrazo (The Last Embrace) by Israeli photographer Ifat Peer, will be open until May 25, from Wednesday to Sunday from 2 to 8 p.m.
Each of the photographs in the exhibition features mothers whose sons and daughters were killed during the massacre. Each photograph is accompanied by text that was written by the mothers themselves, in which they described the sons and daughters they lost, shared the moment they received the news of their deaths, and recalled the memory of their last hugs together, according to the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA).
Ayer quedó inaugurada la muestra "El último abrazo", una impactante exhibición fotográfica de la artista israelí Ifat Peer, quien retrató a 25 madres que perdieron a sus hijos en la masacre del 7 de octubre de 2023.Para el acto de apertura viajaron desde Israel para presentes… pic.twitter.com/P2XuRQ8SMO
— AMIA (@InfoAMIA) March 14, 2025
The exhibition was organized by the Department of Zionist Entrepreneurship of the World Zionist Organization (WZO), the AMIA, and Argentina's Secretariat of Culture.
Among the attendees for the exhibition's opening ceremony included Peer, Israeli Ambassador to Argentina Eyal Sela, Argentinian Culture Secretary Leonardo Cifelli, AMIA President Amos Linetzky, and Head of the World Zionist Organization Enterprises Department Silvio Joskowicz.
The opening ceremony was led by AMIA Secretary-General Gabriel Gorenstein.
Mothers of Oct. 7 victims present at opening ceremony
Sigal Manzuri, mother of daughters who were victims of Hamas's attacks, Norelle, 22, and Roya, 25, traveled to the Argentinian capital especially for the exhibition's opening. Eti Raz, whose son Idan was killed in battle near Be'eri, attended the exhibition's opening as well. Idan was a staff sergeant in the IDF at the time of his death.
“On October 6, 2023, my daughters Roya and Norelle, and their boyfriend Amit, came to my house. They were very excited to go to the Nova Festival," Manzuri was cited by the AMIA as saying. "They were so happy that Norelle left so quickly that she forgot to say goodbye to me. So I ran after her and told her she couldn't leave mom's house without giving me a hug. That was the last hug we shared."
Raz said, "Life teaches us lessons we wouldn't have wanted to learn. I wish I hadn't had to learn what it's like to be a grieving mother. I would have preferred to skip that lesson."
The exhibition also incorporated three images that engage with the stories of the mothers who lost their children, based on the common denominator: "Terror that recognizes no borders," according to the AMIA.
The three images are of Sara Korin, mother of Abi, an Argentine victim of the October 7 attack from Kibbutz Holit, while the other two images feature Sofía Guterman and Graciela Linial de Furman, who are mothers of two victims who were killed in the 1994 AMIA bombing, Andrea Guterman and Fabián Furman, respectively.
Cifelli said that the exhibition "isn't easy to watch, but it's necessary to keep our memory fresh about the consequences of human evil, of what terrorism does."
Ambassador Sela spoke at the opening ceremony of the 59 hostages that are still held captive by Hamas, noting that "four of them are also Argentinian."
AMIA said the exhibition is part of the #MomToo project, a global initiative created after the October 7 massacre, which aims to connect mothers globally.
The opening of the exhibition came just a few days before the 33rd anniversary of the 1992 Israeli embassy bombing in Buenos Aires, which killed 29 people.
Last month, Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, declared a national day of mourning for the deaths of Israeli-Argentinian hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir.
Buenos Aires's iconic Obelisk had also illuminated images of Shiri and her two sons as part of the day of mourning.
Joanie Margulies contributed to this report.
