Eli Sharabi

Editor's Notes: The story of Israel’s new celebrities is, in the end, the story of a society that refuses to look away from its trauma, yet also cannot bear to stare at it directly for too long.

In the tunnels of Gaza, stripped of everything, Eli was forced to answer Shmuel’s questions in the starkest terms imaginable: What am I?

Two men grabbed Sharabi and dragged him out barefoot. He yelled to his family, promising to return. A terrorist hit him, causing his glasses to fall to the ground. He was beaten and kicked.

A state ceremony commemorating the fallen soldiers in the Israel-Hamas War first took place, and it was followed by a ceremony to remember the civilian victims of October 7 and the war.

Sharabi learned from a Hamas commander two days before his release that his brother, Yossi, had also been kidnapped on October 7 and had died in captivity. 

Yossi Sharabi, 53, was known as a loving and dedicated father and husband. Always a protector, Yossi defended his family till the last moment and cared for teenaged hostages while in captivity.  

Former Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi talks to The Jerusalem Report about the 491 days he spent as a hostage in Gaza and how ‘everything’ has changed.

Bound by what may well be the darkest chapter in Israel’s history, these three represent different facets of our nation’s response to terror: choosing life in the face of absolute despair.

Publisher Rotem Sella says impact is measured in copies and conversation, and the country is listening.

Sharabi: 'No matter what cards life deals you, it is in your hands, always, in every moment, the choice to die, and the choice to live.'