{"id":104090,"date":"2025-09-05T22:05:39","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T19:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/?p=104090"},"modified":"2025-09-05T11:22:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T08:22:15","slug":"jerusalem-marks-hostages-while-many-residents-forget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/jerusalem-marks-hostages-while-many-residents-forget\/","title":{"rendered":"Jerusalem marks hostages, while many residents forget"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"389\" data-end=\"826\">The Jerusalem Municipality lit up the Strings Bridge and Teddy Stadium with the number 700, marking the long days the hostages in Gaza have spent away from their families. Yet behind the symbolic gesture lies a complex reality: many residents of Jerusalem \u2013 from ultra-Orthodox communities to right-wing supporters and Palestinians in East Jerusalem \u2013 do not necessarily identify with the message or support the idea of a hostage deal<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"828\" data-end=\"880\">Jerusalem seeks to highlight collective memory<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"881\" data-end=\"1579\">To understand the city\u2019s message, one must begin with the official act itself. On Thursday evening, the Strings Bridge and Teddy Stadium were illuminated with the number 700 and the emblem of the hostages. Mayor Moshe Lion declared: &#8220;Since the war began, the people of Israel have endured hundreds of days of pain, longing, and waiting. Jerusalem remembers, prays, and embraces the families of the hostages. By lighting the city\u2019s symbols, we express commitment, hope, and prayer for their return. From the capital rises a clear voice: bring them all home.&#8221; At Safra Square, large cubes bearing the faces of 48 hostages were displayed, a striking reminder placed at the heart of the public space<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"\u05d2\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d4\u05de\u05d9\u05ea\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d7\u05d8\u05d5\u05e4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05e2\u05d6\u05d4 - 700 \u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd (\u05e6\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd: \u05d0\u05e8\u05e0\u05d5\u05df \u05d1\u05d5\u05e1\u05d0\u05e0\u05d9)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lKlVLIIlC-s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"1581\" data-end=\"1642\">Ultra-Orthodox residents avoid the enlistment discourse<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"1643\" data-end=\"2107\">Beyond the municipal stage, Jerusalem\u2019s demographics tell another story. The ultra-Orthodox community, which makes up a significant share of the city\u2019s population, largely rejects the national military narrative. For many, the call to bring back the hostages is tied to the same framework of compulsory enlistment they oppose. As a result, while the city shines yellow symbols of solidarity, many Haredi families remain indifferent, reflecting a deep social gap<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"2109\" data-end=\"2158\">Religious Zionists and opposition to a deal<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"2159\" data-end=\"2564\">Alongside the ultra-Orthodox, the Religious Zionist sector in Jerusalem voices strong opposition to deals with Hamas. Leaders and community members often argue that releasing prisoners in exchange for hostages would endanger national security and embolden terror groups. This perspective transforms the municipality\u2019s symbolic message of unity into yet another front in the city\u2019s ideological struggles<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"2566\" data-end=\"2626\">Palestinians in East Jerusalem \u2013 a different narrative<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"2627\" data-end=\"3034\">No analysis of Jerusalem is complete without considering East Jerusalem, home to about 40 percent of the city\u2019s residents. For Palestinian communities, the &#8220;700 days&#8221; narrative is not part of their collective identity. Many view the illuminated symbols as reflecting only one side\u2019s pain, leaving their own reality unacknowledged. This gap highlights how official gestures often fail to bridge the divide<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"3036\" data-end=\"3079\">Jerusalem as a demographic laboratory<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"3080\" data-end=\"3547\">Taken together, these realities make Jerusalem a demographic and political laboratory. In one city coexist collective memory of the hostages in Gaza, indifference among ultra-Orthodox groups, opposition from Religious Zionists, and a completely different Palestinian narrative. What was meant as a message of unity in fact exposes the divisions that define the capital. Jerusalem, once again, becomes a symbol of both memory and forgetting, solidarity and fracture<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2419\" data-end=\"2744\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">(<a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/europe-in-jaffa-street-jerusalem-light-rail-moves-forward\/\">Europe in Jaffa Street? Jerusalem light rail moves forward<\/a>)<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Strings Bridge and Teddy Stadium lit up after 700 days, yet Jerusalem\u2019s divided demographics show resistance to a deal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":104084,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"9319","_seopress_titles_title":"Jerusalem marks hostages, while many residents forget","_seopress_titles_desc":"Strings Bridge and Teddy Stadium lit up after 700 days, yet Jerusalem\u2019s divided demographics show resistance to a deal","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10327,10414,9319,9314],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-104090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking","8":"category-columns-opinions","9":"category-jerusalem-updates","10":"category-main-item"},"acf":{"subtitle":"Strings Bridge and Teddy Stadium lit up after 700 days, yet Jerusalem\u2019s divided demographics show resistance to a deal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}